


Taken

by Lananiuska



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-10-04 17:55:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 63,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20475176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lananiuska/pseuds/Lananiuska
Summary: Not everything is what meets the eye. Princess Regina is about to find out the hard way.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is definitely an AU story with the characters younger and in a different scenario. It's one of my already finished stories so I'll post regularly. Anyway, here we wil have some of the characters in the series but portrayed differently and not necessarily related. Enjoy

A soft breeze swept all around her, carrying the sweet fragrance of wild flowers and fresh grass as she walked across the corridor, her head held up high while she moved gracefully as only one of her lineage ever could.

Around her, her ladies whispered and giggled carelessly at shared secrets as they followed her lead. Inside her private chambers she probably would have join them, but outside the comforts of her sanctuary, royal etiquette prevented her from falling into such trivial manners.

Outside her chambers she was Princess Regina, not only the daughter of a King from a lesser Kingdom, but she was also soon to be married to the most powerful King there was and would ever be in all Kingdoms and beyond. That wasn't something that quite excited her, but ever since she was a little girl her mother had made it so that she knew what her place was that she has become not only used to it, but if anyone came to ask she would show herself to be proud of it.

Even with her ladies she would talk about her future husband with reverence, even though she barely knew him.

But that was a matter for another occasion, in that warm summer day it was all about how curiosity had driven her out of her chambers and into court. She had heard two of her servants talking over as they prepared her bath and according to them, The Outlaws would be making an appearance at court that same day.

She had never seen an Outlaw before other that in books, but she had heard their tales of brutality. Books depicted them as filthy savages that would eat their babies alive when their harvest wouldn't produce enough food and yes, she wanted to see the vile creatures for herself.

Her tutor claimed that nobody knew exactly where they lived, as they were nomads. She has also learned that they had signed a treaty of peace fifty years ago with the former King, the same one they violated over and over again by kidnapping women and children from their Kingdom, so as far as she was concerned, everbody knew they were deplorable human beings.

"I… Princess, I don't want… to go there." Stammered one of the three ladies that always accompanied her since her hand was granted to The King. They were the daughters of great Lords and even if her mother liked to boast how they came to serve her, reality was that their own families had sent them to court expecting them to come back home with respectable marriage offers of their own.

"She's scared." Giggled Ana. "She thinks The Outlaws will eat her alive."

Regina smirked. "My mother would give me the head of anyone who dares touching any of you so there's nothing to fear.Take my hand and we will enter together."

Uncertain, Elle took the Princess hand, not because she was convinced of her safety, but because she was taught to follow the young woman's commands. She wasn't born into a great family like the others, she was actually just an orphan whose stepmother sent away without looking back so she knew she had to make this work. She was lucky the Princess was kind with her.

That way, Regina and her entourage entered the room via the second floor, not only because she could take a good glance at the whole room from above, but also because that way her mother, the one who really ruled the castle, would not notice her presence. She was not afraid of filthy Outlaws, but her mother would not be pleased with her being there.

The session had already begun, and a handful of men stood in front of the King's Throne. There were three of them, and she watched in morbid fascination that they were accompanied by one woman. Never had she heard or seen a woman pleading a case in court so the sight almost made her gasp. She didn't made a sound though, not for lack of surprise but because her mother was sitting besides The King, jaw set firmly and her eyes blazing. She must be fuming at the audacity of The Outlaws.

She leaned forward into the balcony, full or curiosity, but because she could not hear what they were saying, she just watched.

They were as depicted in books, only that they were covering their torsos while in books they were always bare from the waist up. They were all wearing weird fabrics that differed greatly from the fines tunics great Lords favored and their boots were far from new.

"Belle, tell me about them" She asked one of her ladies as she motioned her to come closer. The brunette girl had a way of knowing everything so if there was anyone who could ask her questions, it was her.

"They are all great warriors and members of the council that rule their people, even the woman. The tall one with the hook, that's well… Hook. He's a womanizer. I heard he likes to kidnap girls to rape them, others say he enamors them and they escape with him deep into the forest or wherever they live"

Regina observed the man, he had a huge grin on his face as he eyed around the room and just by the way he stood, Regina could tell he was an insolent one. He looked way to cocky for one of his predicament and the more she looked, the less she could visualize a woman with any sense wanting to escape with a group of savages.

"He's creepy" murmured Elle.

"The one besides the woman, his name is David. What I know is this; his parents raised both him and his twin brother with blood instead of milk to make them ruthless. James is his brother's name and he went mad, no one has seen him in a while."

"By the Gods" cried Elle.

"That is a bunch of nonsense." Snickered Ana. "What about her?"

Regina looked over at the pale looking woman, she has never seen a woman at court but what really got her attention was how she was half hidden under a riding hood, the cloak a deep crimson red that eerily resembled blood.

"Ruby. People say she can turn into a wolf with a full moon high in the sky."

Finding that to be highly unlikely, Regina shook her head. "What about the one speaking to my father?" She asked glancing at the man. She could not take a good look at him because his back was to her.

"That one is Robin Hood, the best archer to ever live. He's just as ruthless as the other too, if not worse. He's a thief too."

"I don't like Outlaws."

"I like them just fine" Ana said leaning forward to take a better look at them. "I wouldn't mind if they take me away…"

Elle gasped and Belle struck Ana in the head, she retreated as realization hit her. That simple comment could cost her head, as it was considered an act of treason.

The three ladies stood still in expectation, waiting for the Princess too lash out. She didn't. She was way too engrossed with The Outlaws and didn't seem to have listened.

"Is he the leader?"

Belle looked at her two companions before responding, she sat with them to give them some comfort. "If they would have a leader, I guess it would be him. But they govern themselves by Council. They are all equal."

Regina watched the four foreigners, but her eyes kept wandering back to the one called Robin.

'Robin' she whispered to herself. Even the name was intriguing. If he would only turn around so she could see his face.

The other three were smirking and nodding, apparently pleased with what the apparent thief was telling her father and aye, she was beyond intrigued. Her father looked tranquil, but her mother seemed about to explode in anger.

She was about to ask Belle why where they here when Robin turned around and as if he could feel her presence, looked straight at her. It was only for a second where blue met brown, but it felt as if thunder ran all over her and she actually had to bite hard on her lips not to gasp.

Confused, she backed away and got out of sight as soon as she was able too. One thing was to watch the savages from afar and another very different was to lock eyes with one of them. She felt flushed and her hand trembled lightly.

Setting her jaw, she did her best to brush the feeling away. She was a future Queen and Queens knew no fear.

With that in mind, she looked around and saw her three ladies sitting close together. Elle was pouting and the other two seemed deep in thought. None of them had seen her freak out and she was glad. If there was anything her mother would never forgive her, it was to show weakness in front of others.

Rolling her eyes and getting a grip, she sighed a little dramatically, giving the impression that she was bored. "Come on, I'm tired of looking at those nasty savages"

But as she walked out, she wanted nothing more than get another glance into the blue eyes of Robin Hood…


	2. Chapter 2

Princess Regina approached The King's private chambers as Sidney, The Lord Chamberlain was standing right outside the door, blocking the entrance. She could hear from inside her mother yelling and trashing the room and she knew she was in a rotten mood.

It made her feel for her father, as her mother was always lashing out on him, but it also made her realize that whatever the Outlaws came to say did not please The Crown. It only increased her curiosity.

"Let me pass." She commanded Sidney, her chin help up high and her eyes set on the huge door. For some reason she has never felt comfortable in the presence of the man, but she wasn't going to let him know that.

He was very much her mother's lackey and she wouldn't want him seeing how all the little hairs of her body would stand on ends whenever he lay his eyes on her, he may tell Cora and that wouldn't be good.

No, her mother would get beyond furious with the sole mention of her daughter being weak and that was something she didn't care provoking.

"The King and The Queen do not want to be interrupted; they are in the middle of a very important meeting." He said with a sneer in his uptight face.

"I don't care, I want in." Regina crossed her arms across her chest and looked at the snotty man in defiance. He thought too much of himself, but at the end of the day he was just a lackey and she, she was her mother's daughter.

At her words, Sidney had the imprudence to take a step towards her and he even opened his mouth to reply, but he was cut short when the door behind him opened all of a sudden. He moved aside and Graham, who has been serving as her father's squire since he was a lad got out.

He walked right pass them in a hurry.

Regina gave Sidney a contempt glance as he entered The King's Chamber and shut the door right behind him.

That little interaction let her know that if she wanted a scoop of what was going on inside she had no choice but to follow Graham down the corridor. Her ladies saw her taking off and followed her too. They were never far behind.

"Graham." She broke into a fast trot until reaching him.

"Not now Regina." The man, who was the closest thing to a sibling she ever had accelerated his pace and left her behind. She stopped in her tracks and stomped her feet.

"Belle."

The brown haired girl rushed to The Princess side. "Princess." She gave a little bow but Regina gestured her to stop. She was not in the mood for pleasantries.

"What's going on here?"

"I'm… not really sure." Belle replied, her eyes glued to the floor. The Princess was rarely unkind to them but she knew better than to cross her.

"Then go and find out."

Belle bowed again and disappeared into the distance.

For some reason, Regina had an uneasy feeling that she couldn't shake away. She was disconcerted with the Outlaws' appearance at court and why, for that matter had it bothered her mother so much.

It had to be something of great importance for him to call in assembly both Graham, who now that outgrew his squire duties has become the Kingdom's Huntsman and The Lord Chamberlain.

Her train of thought was interrupted when she heard someone giggling, she looked back and saw Anna waving and smiling through the window.

"What are you doing Anna of Arendelle?" She asked in annoyance. Here she was, worrying about things that really mattered and the girl was oblivious to it all.

The pretty redhead backed away from the window and smiled guiltily at the Princess. Ella's eyes were huge sockets in her face as she worried about her friend.

If it weren't for the fact that she was fond of the girl she would have her whipped… well, perhaps not but she needed a scolding to help her get her feet on the ground.

Shaking her head no at the thought of punishing her ladies, Regina sighed. Then she peeked through the window and saw a couple of apprentices looking up. One of them cowered when he saw her and hurried to finish his training, the other one, the weird one with the goofy smile just waved at her.

At that little scene, Regina looked back at Anna, her eyebrow raised in query. "Do you think about anything other than boys?" She started to make her way toward her chambers; she wanted to take a bath and get rest.

"Sometimes. I also think about food, especially chocolate and finding a boy… no, a man that loves it as much as I do." Said Anna as she followed the Princess.

Despite herself, Regina had to smile. Out of her three ladies, Anna was the most joyful. Her laugher was contagious and her high spirit always lifted hers. She was almost like a child, which reminded her when she was not much different than her.

But those times were long gone, as soon as she was of age her mother had made sure to evaporate whatever joy in life she could find in the little things and changed Regina's dreams for her own expectations. She had it in her mind that her daughter had to wed the King and well, all her work paid off since she was just going to do that.

Yes, in less than a fortnight she was going to marry The King, a real King like she once thought to herself, not like her father who was pretty much her mother's puppet and just the ruler of a small Kingdom. Leopold was the real deal, he was also way older than her and not what she had hoped to achieve when she was a girl.

In a way she even envied her ladies, especially Anna who still had hopes of making a good marriage without having to sacrifice so much, like her.

"What about you Ella?" She eyed the blonde out of curiosity.

"No your Highness… I mean yes Your Highness, I mean… I think about plenty of things."

"Very well." Tired of the child-talk, her mind went back to the Outlaws. She wondered how long it would take Belle to gather the information.

"Anna, go find Professor Jiminy and ask him to give you that book, the one about Outlaws."

"Alright." The livid girl made an exaggerated reverence before trotting in direction to the classroom, the teacher was always there.

Once Anna was out of sight Regina regretted sending her off, she was apt to get entertained on her way and delay her chore.

"Ella." She motioned the remaining lady to walk by her side. "What did you think about the Outlaws, were they what you expected?"

She wanted to know what impression she had on the group; she sure had been entranced by them.

"Very much, nothing more than a bunch of brutes." The young one shivered at the memory. "I hope their business here is done so we don't have to see the likes of them again."

The Princess nodded but remained silent the rest of their way to her room. She couldn't shake the memory of blue eyes staring at hers for the briefest of moments.

Once inside the sanctuary of her chambers she bathed and waited, it seemed all her life was spent waiting. The first one to arrive was Anna with the book. Before going to bed she took a quick glance at it, half expecting to find the answer to her questions. But since there was nothing there other than what she already knew, she went to sleep.

That night she dreamt a terrible dream. She saw her father down on his knees, pleading to a faceless figure sitting on his throne while her mother lurked in the shadows. She saw a distorted version of herself, lost in a haunted forest as shadows armored like the sun hunted her down. She saw villages burning and kids crying as their parents rotted in their beds. All that she saw while floating around, and at the end of it all she saw her three ladies, bundled together in the dark, calling to her…

"Regina…"

She tried to follow that voice.

"Princess…" A hand shook her awake.

She opened her eyes abruptly, her heart beating hard in her chest as a cold sweat ran down her back.

"Princess." The voice whispered once more.

She tried to focus her eyes and saw that Belle was the one calling to her. She sighed in relief, taking comfort in the fact that it was just a bad dream.

"What is it?" Still felling disoriented, she looked around the room. It was still dark outside and she wondered why would Belle wake her up in the middle of night.

"I have your information."

It took a while for her brain to register but when it did she sat up straight, taking the other woman's hands in hers. "Tell me."

Belle squeezed Regina's hands and staring deep into her eyes, she talked. "Tonight culminates life as you know it." For making such a bold statement her face was stoic.

Still uneasy from her dream Regina swallowed hard. "Don't talk in riddles and explain yourself." She hated when she started talking all cryptic.

"The Outlaws came demanding The King to evacuate a plot of land The Kingdom is using for training facilities. It appears the treaty of peace the Old King signed with them marked a frontier between The Kingdom and their land. By law that lot belongs to them."

"This is all a quarrel for a worthless piece of land?" Regina asked confused.

"It is not only about the land, it is believed this is all an excuse to break the treaty and declare war with us."

"They don't have the manpower to declare war on us, that's ridiculous."

"Ridiculous or not, the thing is that The King sent the Huntsman and his acolytes to their camp. They attacked at night and took one woman hostage."

"What!" Regina sprung to her feet. Why would Graham do that? "Bring me my robe."

Attacking an Outlaw camp and taking a hostage was a serious violation to the treaty, one that their old rivals wouldn't take lightly. Did her father really gave that order?

Belle left briefly and came back with The Princess' robe; she helped her into it and spoke again.

"That's not all; as we speak, there are two Outlaws at the court room demanding a word with The King."

Regina put on her slippers and hurried to the door. Life inside the walls of the castle contained little excitement and she was not about to miss the biggest of them all. When she noticed the young woman wasn't following her she turned around.

"What are you waiting for?"

Belle bowed and followed The Princess out the door.

As she moved, Regina forgot all decorous conduct she had to follow being The King's daughter. She was in a hurry so she ran through the intricate passageways of the castle. She knew by heart every turn and every step leading to the court room so it was no trouble finding her way in the darkness.

The two women ran swiftly until reaching the entrance to the room they wanted to get to, once there they stopped breathless. She could hear a small commotion taking place inside the historic room and she didn't want to lose any more time standing outside. She decided to enter once again through the second floor and she motioned Belle to be quiet as they both sneaked in.

Once inside the two bent down as not to be seen by the occupants down below, then they peeked down.

The King was the big absent. Graham sat in his place, occupying the chair besides the throne, the one her mother used to sit on while The Lord Chamberlain stood beside him. There were two knights standing at each side of them.

At the other side stood Robin, imposing and looking very pissed while a big man, albeit not so muscular that she didn't recognized stood by him. She made a mental note to ask Belle who that was. This time she could hear clearly because their tones of voices were high.

"… and we can't wake the King just because you lost one of your whores." Sidney said in a bored tone of voice.

"First of all, she's not a whore, she's a member of The High Council; and second we didn't lose her, one of your thugs took her away after attacking our camp." Robin spoke. It was the first time she heard an Outlaw talking. He had a peculiar accent she has never heard before, but since she had half expected them to speak a dialect or something like that she was just glad she could understand him.

"The Kingdom doesn't…" That was Graham, but before he could finish the man behind Robin interrupted him.

"We want to talk to The King, not to his service dogs."

The statement echoed all through the room and Regina jumped startled.

Not taking his eyes off Graham, Robin went on. "You know quite well that was a violation to the treaty, and I demand the release of her before this reaches consequences you will not be able to handle."

Blinking slowly, Regina was in shock by hearing anyone talking in such disrespectful manner to The Huntsman and The Lord Chamberlain. After The King, they were the two most important figures in all their Kingdom and nobody talked like that to them without suffering the consequences.

"Is that a treat?" Graham stood up from his chair, he seemed enraged.

"It's a promise." Robin took a step forward.

"You know, I can have both your heads just for that."

"I'll like to see you try."

Graham laughed and sat back. "Look, we don't have your woman. If someone attacked your camp and you weren't able to protect it that's not our problem. Maybe you should have stayed hidden in your cave. Now, if you'll excuse me I have very important things to worry other than a lost savage woman."

With that he stood up and left the room.

"Tell your king the treaty is done." Robin said fuming and turned around to leave.

Motioning the knights, Sidney smiled. "Why don't you show these… gentlemen their way out." With that said, everyone left the room. When they did he left too.

Regina sat down on the floor, taking in the events of the night. There were a lot of things running through her head.

"Do they really have this woman?" She asked in a whisper. There was something about the room that prevented her from speaking out loud. Maybe it was just habit.

"Yes they do. Down in the dungeon."

The Princess sighed and closed her eyes. It was all messed up. Why would Graham want to take a savage hostage if not to cause a confrontation with them, and all over a lot of land. "I want to see her."

Regina had expected to find it difficult to sneak out of the castle under the circumstances, but it had been easy enough.

She walked under the hood of her robe, using the darkness of the night as her ally. A sleepy Anna followed her close behind. She had chosen to take her along because out of the ladies she was the only one that hadn't been down the dungeon.

The few times she has been down there without Graham it has been with Belle. There was also one time she had made Ella accompany her as a cruel jest. The poor soul was unable to sleep alone for a week.

After seeing Ella so distressed, Anna has been begging her to take her down the dungeon, the girl had a taste for the macabre.

Hades was guarding the entrance to the dungeon, as always. If there was a man in all The Kingdom that intimidated The Princess, that was him. There was something about his eyes that triggered alarm in her; he had that effect on her since she was a little girl. Sidney made her feel uncomfortable, Hades scared her.

His back was resting against the gate, a hat hiding his face. She was glad she didn't have to look into those eyes.

"Get lost, lass." He said without looking up.

Searching inside the pocket of her robe, she took out a ring embedded in diamonds; her father had given it to her for her twenty first birthday. Holding her breath involuntarily, she extended her hand for him to take it.

He took it, his gloved hand brushing her fingers lightly. He examined the small object and after finding it satisfactory he opened the gate for them to pass.

They hurried inside as The Guardian to Hell, as Graham called him, closed the gate behind their backs.

Anna was unusually quiet and Regina didn't urge any kind of conversation. The dungeon was a horrid place, it was damp, gloomy and it reeked of death. She couldn't even begin to imagine how anyone could bear to be imprisoned there.

They walked hand in hand down the stairs, her lady holding a torch to illuminate their way. Their footsteps echoed loudly in the emptiness of the cave, and she counted two hundred steps before they reached an alleyway.

The narrow corridor had small dungeons at each side. The duo of young women walked until they found the one they were looking for. It hadn't been hard for them to find her; she was the only person help prisoner at the time.

Anna put the torch in a hook next to her dungeon so they could take a good look. It was basically the first time they were going to see up close and personal a barbarian.

Regina observed the woman a bit disappointed. She had expected to see Ruby, the one she saw at court, but instead she saw this petit dark haired, her long locks cascading down her back and skin white as snow sitting with her knees hugged to her chest. She didn't look up to them.

"She's so pretty." Mumbled Anna. "What's your name?"

The woman remained still.

"I don't think she understands." Anna said while reaching inside her pocket. She took out some bread and offered it to the savage.

"Yes she does, I heard one of them talking just fine." The Princess got closer to the gate to take a better look at the captive. "The one they call Robin." Now, Regina just said the name to see if there was a reaction from the woman.

Her tactic proved effective, as she looked up and stared directly at the Princess eyes.

The gaze was full of hatred, but the Princess held it. If there was something to be said about these creatures was that they had courage; either that or they were beyond proud.

"We brought you some food." Anna had indeed done that; her pockets were full of fruit, bread and cheese. She also had a flask full of water. "Take it."

The Outlaw directed her gaze to Regina, and after a long consideration she took the offered goods.

Both Anna and Regina observed in silence as the woman ate. To the Princess, these savages never seen before until that day seemed all too human, no longer a picture in a book. She couldn't help but to take pity on her.

"Princess?"

Regina startled as she heard him calling for her. It was a voice she hadn't been expecting, especially not in that dungeon. It was after all The King, her betrothed. She hadn't heard him come. She hadn't even known he was in The Kingdom and turning to him without raising her head she did a courtesy. "My King." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that he was not alone. He was accompanied by both Rumpelstiltskin and Frankenstein.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"She's feeding the savage." Rumple replied from behind. "Women…" he snickered. She didn't like neither one of her future husband's acolytes.

Leopold laughed softly and took the Princess hand to give it a small kiss. Manners and the voice of her mother warning her not to do it prevented her from yanking her hand from his and she just let him kiss it. "My Regina has a good heart, but this is not a place for a lady such as you."

"I just wanted to see if it was true we were holding an Outlaw down here…" Before she could finish, she bit on her lips. This was The King, ruler of all The Kingdoms and what her father just did could be considered as treason.

He broke The Treaty and that could cost her Father's head and what her mother would fear most, her marriage.

The last one didn't bother her as much as it should, on the contrary, but she was quite fond of her father and she didn't want any harm to come to him.

"Regina, you don't have to worry by such affairs, that's why we are here. Now, let me accompany you back to the castle…"

"What about the woman?" She asked, not really wanting her to remain there either. He had said it himself; the dungeon was no place for a woman, not even a savage.

"Don't worry; this is really an upgrade to her. And she's got my men to take her of her. Are you going to take care of her?" He asked the men but didn't look at them.

"Yes we will." Replied Frankenstein. Rumple just giggled.

The Princess looked back at the two of them. She had a bad feeling about the whole thing, but didn't say anything. She wanted to trust The King, in a few weeks they were going to marry and thus her life would pass from her father to this man.

"Come on." Leopold smiled and offered his hand to her. She smiled back even though she didn't feel like it and took it.

"I don't like these escapades of yours. It's very dangerous for a lady to wander unaccompanied at night."

"Fortunately for me that you found me." Regina said in her mellowest voice, but deep inside her being a feeling of dread started to consume her. She didn't like this at all, especially now that The King was on it too. But she smiled and followed his lead while the woman remained back there…


	3. Chapter 3

Lack of sleep made Regina overlook her manners, she just forgot the graceful movements that marked her day to day walking as soon as she spotted Graham in the stables, she ran towards him without worrying who may see her act so reckless.

"Graham!" Now yelling wasn't something she wasn't supposed to do either, but he was far and she needed a word with him before he could disappear again.

It was still shy of noon of what promised to be a beautiful day. The sun shone brightly over a cloudless blue sky and a light breeze caressed her skin lightly as she made her way across the yard.

"Graham!"

By the time she reached him, The Huntsman was waiting for one of the stable boys to prepare his horse, but when he heard the Princess calling up to him he looked up.

He welcomed her with a smile, he was content. In fact, everyone at the castle had woken up in a fabulous mood; the Outlaws had left without giving battle.

The High Priest thanked the Gods for smiling on them once again, he also thanked her father for his wits and a few warriors thanked the fact that Leopold showed up for a bloodless victory. Fact was, everybody had an opinion on the matter and every corner in the castle felt alive with whispers and celebration.

Regina didn't join in their frenzy. If they were really gone why was her father enclosed with Leopold and his advisors since the wee hours of the morning?

The news came at dawn when the knights sent to strike a second attack on the Outlaws came back earlier, claiming the camp had been abandoned; the savages had retreated the same way they came without their promised retaliation.

"Where are you going?" She asked out of breath as she neared him. He was getting ready to take off.

"I'm going out to see for myself if those cowards really left for good."

"Can't you send someone instead?" The Princess had an ominous feeling that something awful was on the verge of happening and she feared for his safety. Graham was the brother she never had, and even when her mother had tried to intervene in the two of them getting close, fact was that being the only children at the castle made them grow together.

So no, she didn't want anything bad happening to him and she didn't really believed the Outlaws were really gone; it could be an ambush for all they knew and he was walking right into it.

It was no secret that the Outlaws held no love for the Kingdom and Graham could easily be a target for retaliation. Those savages were known for being ruthless and merciless in battle and The Huntsman was not a skilled warrior. He wasn't completely defenseless, but nothing compared to the Outlaws.

Smiling, he shook his head as he stretched. "Don't fear for me, your future husband's jackals are going with me just in case those savages are trying to trick us into a trap, I wouldn't expect anything less from that lot."

"What about the woman?" She asked. "Is it necessary to keep her in the dungeon?"

"She's a prisoner Regina; where else should we keep her?"

"The tower for instance." Anything was better than the dungeon. Her night had been tormented by images of the gloomy place and the woman in it, she hadn't slept at all.

Graham chuckled taking a glance at her. "And then what, make her into one of your ladies?"

"Of course not, but if she's an important member of their government we should treat her accordingly."

"There's no such thing as an Outlaw government. They are just a bunch of barbarians with airs of grandeur. Their so called Council is a joke not to be taken seriously and I hate to come off as an ass but if that woman didn't want to get caught in the affairs of war then she should have remained hidden in that waste land of them."

"If we are at war it is because we started it by cowardly attacking them in their sleep and taking what could be their weakest member hostage." She was being bold, but she couldn't help it.

He considered for a while, not taking offense in her little ramble. "War is a very sensitive matter in which women shouldn't delve; I don't expect you to understand. It's a horrid subject for your tender heart to bear."

He kissed her forehead before mounting his horse.

"I don't want you to worry about it. Go and enjoy this victorious day, it would be a shame to waste it inside those old walls." With that he took off and left her behind.

Regina didn't like their situation at all. Graham was right in something, war was a horrid thing, and she wished their Kingdom wouldn't get involved in one.

But what was done couldn't be undone. The deed was sealed and they could only hope the savages were really gone.

~•~•~•~

Regina dipped her head under water, letting it take her in completely in its coolness. Going to the spring always gave her a sense of peace and calmness that she couldn't find anywhere else, and with her mind going in overdrive it was exactly what she needed.

With the threat of the savages apparently gone, life inside the castle continued with its same tedious routine. Servants continued their duties with unusual joy, thankful that they didn't have a war to worry about.

Other than that life went on as if nothing out of the ordinary occurred the previous night; as if there wasn't a defenseless woman imprisoned in the pit of the dungeon while Graham looked around for Outlaws to continue a war that haven't even begun.

It had driven her mad so she left the castle with the three ladies and a grand total of two apprentice knights. They all went to the spring.

Her body was still immersed under water as she held her breath as long as she could. Her ears were starting to ring loudly in her head and her lungs were crying in protest, but before she could decide for herself to reach the surface, she was pulled out of the water.

"Are you trying to drown yourself?"

Taking a sweet breath of fresh air, Regina wiped water out of her eyes and looked at Ella. The blonde was looking at her expectantly with her huge eyes.

Regina didn't respond; she just let her body fall back idly so it could float. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the water embracing her body in solace as the sun soaked her with its warm.

She wondered if Graham had made it back to the castle yet. She wasn't going to have peace to her heart until she knew he was safely back.

Damn those Outlaws and the day they decided to show up in court.

As if from far away, she could hear Ella talking. They weren't deep into the spring so she turned around to float on her stomach. She was supporting the weight of her body with her arms to see the timid girl chatting with Anna.

"No I haven't."

"Come on, just admit it." Replied Anna in her usual amused tone of voice.

"Admit what?" Regina asked curious.

"Don't listen to her, it's not true!" Ella said dismayed.

Regina snorted; for some reason Anna enjoyed tormenting the girl and making her uncomfortable around her. She had even participated in countless occasions just for the fun of doing something.

"She kissed one of the apprentices." Anna confided much to the dismay of Ella.

She looked at the young woman as she hid her face behind her hands; she was shaking her head in denial.

Knowing Anna as she did, Regina knew the whole thing was probably a fallacy to mortify the blonde so she just rolled her eyes and let them continue their girl talk.

She herself hadn't even gotten her first kiss, but being a woman about to marry a man twice widowed she was sure that was going to change soon. Thinking about that made her shiver and not from excitement and she decided to think about something else, whatever that wasn't Leopold and her wife duties.

Sighing, she looked over at the spot where her guards were supposed to be. They weren't there, but knowing those two they were probably chasing lizards or maybe some unlucky maiden that happened to be around.

"So who did you kiss?" Regina asked out of boredom. She could hear Anna giggling.

"Princess" That was Belle, she has been silent ever since leaving the castle. It hadn't struck her as odd as the girl tended to be mysterious and retreaded at times.

"What is it?" Regina asked worried for the young woman, she didn't look too good and her face was way too pale. She sat on the rocky surface to take a better look at her.

Belle, with her wet brown hair cascading down her back rose out of the water. At that moment she seemed like a vision, like one of those legendary princesses of long ago she liked to read so much about.

As if in a trance, Belle took from her undergarments a small dagger embedded in rubies; it shone a hypnotizing bright red Regina has never seen before.

The Princess was taken aback as to why one of her ladies was armed with such a thing so she just looked stupefied as Belle reached for her.

She heard Ella gasp and Anna muttering something unintelligible.

Belle knelt at her side and put the dagger in her hands. The Princess took it as if in a trance of her own.

"It's time. You'll have to run, run as fast as you can and don't you ever look back." The words came out as a whisper.

"What…?" Regina gasped; she had no idea what was going on or what to do with the dagger for that matter.

"They are here, and they came for you, don't let them get you."

"Who's here, the Outlaws?" Regina asked in apprehension, looking around for her guards. They were still nowhere to be found. She was going to have them whipped by…

"Are you listening to me?" Cried Belle as a man they had never seen before appeared in the same spot her warriors were supposed to be.

He wasn't too tall, but he didn't seem too friendly. He just stood there, a scowl on his face while glancing over at them while holding an axe.

"Go!" Belle screamed and yanked the Princess to her feet. She pushed her, urging her to go away but Regina stood frozen, her feet glued to the ground.

"I'm not going to leave you here." She said looking at her ladies, Ella was already crying.

"Forget about us, if we don't meet again in this life we'll do it in the next one. Now go." Belle said more firmly as a woman joined the mysterious man.

This one they had all seen before. It was the same one they had seen at court the other day, the one called Ruby.

"Uh oh." Anna breathed out.

That was the last thing the Princess heard before Belle pushed her away once more. This time her feet responded and she moved.

That was how Regina, a princess by her own right and soon to be Queen to the most powerful King in all The Kingdoms and beyond began her race into the forest.

She ran barefoot and clad only in her wet undergarments as if the devil himself was at her heels. She ran into the forest aimlessly, not knowing her way around but not daring to stop. She ran without looking back, until her legs hurt and her ability to breathe got compromised, but she kept running nonetheless.

Somewhere not too far behind her she heard one of them laughing, the sound was unbearable. Images of the savages cannibalizing their enemies came in mind; she could imagine them committing the most brutal crimes as they laughed and danced, just as in the books.

She was terrified, but determined not to let them catch her alive. She was not going to suffer the same fate the captive in the dungeon was having or one much worse.

She stopped running and turned around, waiting. She was breathless and her chest was hurting. She held Belle's dagger tight in her hand.

"Come on, love." Came the mocking sound.

She heard the taunting voice before she saw him, and when he appeared in front of her, silent as a ghost she almost fainted. It was the womanizer, the rapist. He was dressed all in leather and from up close she noticed that he had color around his blue eyes, they were outlined in black. The hook was in his hand just as it had been at court. He was also grinning wildly.

"I'm not going to hurt you… even if you made us run." He ran his tongue across his teeth as he gazed at her with a smile on his face.

Regina put the dagger against her neck, but she wasn't sure if she could be able to carry on with it. She knew she was worth more alive than dead and of those people had a bit of sense in them they should realize that.

"Stay away." Her voice came shaky and low.

The man tilted his head, the grin still plastered on his face. His eyes were shinning in amusement but Regina didn't care. He didn't move towards her and she could be content with that, at least for now.

She started to retreat, in her mind she knew she was being naïve, if the savage decided to do so he could easily grab her and carry her away, but his lack of movement encourage her to hope.

So she kept moving backwards and he stood motionless, grinning.

"Got you." She collapsed against a solid body that quickly yanked the dagger out of her hand.

She yelped and tried to run away but the savage was quicker, he swirled her around and lifted her off her feet. He threw her over his shoulder as she kicked and punched him, trying to break free.

"Let me go, you filthy savage!" She yelled at him as the one they called Hook laughed.

"Don't make me tie you up. You know, I may be a filthy savage as you so kindly pointed out but even I know how to treat a lady." The man replied unaffected by her attempts of breaking free.

"I don't know mate, last I heard that's not how you carry a lady. Not that I would know, but I heard, as I am not as gentle as you."

"Well bugger that, I am after all a savage." The man holding her said in amusement and Regina didn't like how they were enjoying her misfortune.

They were probably used of snatching maidens and carry them with them and that did nothing but increase her apprehension.

As she dangled over his shoulder he started to walk deeper into the forest. She tried to think a way to escape but she knew it would be almost impossible to do so; so she did the first thing that came to mind, she sneaked her hand underneath his shirt and scratched the man's naked back hard enough to draw blood. She would have bitten him but she didn't want to get sick.

The savage gasped and put her to the ground; she came down with a thud as she tried to wriggle free. She has never been so mistreated in her life.

"The little brat scratched me." The man complained to the other one.

She looked up and stared at him in defiance, but once she realized that it was the man with the haunting blue eyes, Robin, her heart skipped a beat and no word came out.

"Go get me the rope." He commanded the other mam as he reached for his back, checking on the damage done.

Regina remained in the ground; her legs failed her and wouldn't help her to stand up. It was over for her, they had taken her and would do whatever they wanted to her, rape her, kill her, eat her. She just wished for Belle's dagger to finish her life with some dignity.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Regina was very well aware that her situation was precarious. She was no longer the Princess in her father's castle, but a simple captive in a mysterious land of doom. Here she was no one, she was alone, she had been degraded into nothing by a bunch of barbarians.

She was sitting over an extensive canopy of green grass that covered an open field, her hands tied secure behind her back as night threatened to come. She hadn't moved an inch since her captors had put her down.

Upon taking her, the Outlaws carried her ahorse out of the Kingdom's domain. They rode as fast as the wind, pass the forest, pass huge mountains and further than she had ever been.

They rode nonstop for hours, but when dusk began to creep in they ceased their progress and dismounted in a valley near a river. She dreaded having to spend the night with the savages, so far away from the comforts of her chambers and everything that was familiar.

The rope that held her hands together was cutting unmercifully on the tender skin of her wrists and the riding had left her body aching all over. Other than that she was unharmed.

From the spot she was sitting, she was taking furtive glances at them, expecting them to lash their rage on her any time now. So far they didn't give a sign of doing such a thing. In fact, none of them were paying any attention to her. They had lighted a fire and were sitting around it, palavering in hushed voices as they put together a quick soup.

It was the perfect time for her to escape. They were too distracted with their mischievous scheming to notice her. Yet, she didn't dare to move. The odds were against her and she wouldn't know where to go. Even if she found it in herself to try to get away they would get her. They were faster, stronger and probably knew their way around.

So she just sat there, a silent observer to the odd rituals of the four savages that had taken her away.

Night was approaching and a chilly breeze preceded the darkness that came with it. She was cold and unable to fight off her shuddering. She was only wearing her undergarments; the thin fabric that had long ago dried on her skin didn't offer much of a protection for a cold night. She felt over exposed.

Not wanting to get their attention, she shifted her position quietly. She tried to adjust her underskirt so it would cover her a bit more. It was hard to do so with her hands tied but she tried her best to be stealthy.

Her efforts were in vain though. Not only she was unable to cover much of her legs with the scarce fabric, but much to her dismay, she had drawn Robin's attention to her.

When he looked over at her she averted her eyes away and sent a silent prayer to the Gods. She prayed for him to continue his business with the other ones and leave her alone, she also prayed for the Gods to give her the strength she needed to endure her burden as best as she could.

It was not to be so, at least the first part.

From the distance, she could feel his eyes burning a hole through her and after a few seconds of expectation she saw with the corner of her eye as he stood up from his spot beside the fire and made his way to her.

She was not going to lie, she was terrified.

Would that be it for her? The rational part of her brain wanted to think that they wouldn't harm her, not if it hurt their chances of getting their woman back. But there was another part of her brain, a huge part that reminded her that these were savages creatures capable of the most heinous acts imaginable. She had to expect the worse to happen.

She changed her prayer and asked the Gods to grace her with a quick, clean death.

He made it to her side and her body tensed in anticipation when he reached down to her. She felt his warm fingers wrap around her arm as he pulled her to her feet.

She stood immobile next to him as he studied her. He was standing close enough to make any respectable lady uncomfortable; his body was almost touching hers and his eyes were insolently roaming her body.

She casted her eyes down and when she did her blood froze in her veins. Belle's dagger was in one of his hands. It was still glittering that hypnotizing red she had noticed back at the spring and she wondered if she would die entranced by it.

With the sharp edge of it Robin lifted her shin up, forcing her terrified eyes to meet his cold ones. Her heart stopped its beating for a second and she feared it would never continue its function. She was expecting him to thrust the dagger forward, encrusting it into her throat and thus ending her short life in that forsaking land.

She could see the image clear on her mind, the savages feasting off her blood as it gushed out of her broken body; only the Gods knew what else they would do to her once the body was drained.

"If you try anything funny, I'll tie you upside down to a tree." His voice was low in his throat and his soft breath caressed her skin into gooseflesh.

She heard one of the other Outlaws snickering as Robin ran a taunting finger down her naked arm, slowly reaching to where the rope chastised her skin. Much to her shame, her body betrayed her and trembled beneath his jolting touch.

He moved the dagger from under her shin and reached behind her to cut the rope that bind her hands together. His eyes never left hers and she found herself unable to look away.

Once free of her bondage, she released a breath she was unconsciously holding. Her heart had reassumed its beating and she wondered if it had ever stopped.

Her wrists were raw and sore, and when she was about look down to check on them Robin grabbed her by the arm and guided her to the others.

He made her sit down between Hook and Ruby, and she had to back away when the man leaned into her to sniff at her hair like the animal that he was. Robin sat down opposite to her.

"Touchy." Hook mumbled as he served the mysterious contents of a saucepan into smaller pots. He passed them around and even gave one to her. She didn't take it so he just put it in the ground without a second thought.

Rubbing her wrist, Regina tried to block away the fact that she was surrounded by them. There was no escape to this situation. She just stared into the fire, taking solace it its warmth while they dined in silence.

"Aren't you going to eat that?" Asked Robin while glancing at her.

She didn't answer him, she had yet to speak a word since leaving the forest and she wasn't planning on doing it anytime soon. Besides, as hungry as she was she would rather starve to death than eat whatever they were eating. That thing could be anything at all and she was not going to risk it.

"She probably thinks it's the unborn child of Ruby." Barked the short one as Hook, the rapist laughing buffoon grunted at her side.

"My what? It's just hare you silly girl." Ruby said rolling her eyes. "I mean, what kind of people do you take us for?"

"She thinks we are savages. She's been feed up by the books."

"What books?" The short one they called Grumpy asked between bites.

"Their so called history books." replied Robin and Regina turned her attention to him. His eyes were glistering as he looked at her. By the light of the fire they didn't looked as cold as they had moments ago. "Books full of misleading lies and half truths. I'll lend you one when we get home. It makes for an interesting read but I have to warn you, they don't depict us very kindly." His tone was amused and there was an easy smile on his face as he looked at his companion.

Regina listened to their exchange in silence and went back to staring into the fire. She was not fooled by them or their act of being civilized; it only made her feel more apprehensive.

"Well are you going to eat that or what?" He asked again.

Arching an eyebrow, Regina looked at him defiantly; she was not going to let them know they intimidated her, even when they did. That was not the kind of daughter her mother bred.

As for Robin, he was swirling Belle's dagger in his hand, playing with it as he expected an answer.

Determined and refusing to drop her eyes from his, she kicked the pot away, spilling its contents into the soil. It took all the courage left in her but she held his gaze as he somberly scanned her eyes.

"You shouldn't have done that. Hook, tie her to the nearest tree." His voice was challenging, but she didn't flinch.

Utter silence reigned the valley.

"Upside down?" The man asked barely suppressing a chuckle.

Robin moved his eyes slowly to the other man's; he was looking at him intently but didn't say anything. No one said anything. The four of them just exchanged glances around, communicating in a mute language that Regina couldn't get.

The only thing she understood was that she probably messed up.

Putting his pot down, Hook stood up and took a sack that was lying nearby. He then grabbed her by the arm to make her stand. He walked her away from the warmth of the fire and led her toward the nearest tree.

Regina walked with her head up high, as proudly as a barefoot woman clad only in her undergarments could. She leered at Hook as he silently guided her way. He frightened her, how could he not after she was told what he liked to do to women? But honestly speaking, he did not intimidated her as much as Robin did.

"When my father finds me, he's going to kill all of you."

Hook looked at her, his clear blue eyes finding hers as he smiled.

"If it is written in the stars that I shall die facing the Kingdom then so be it. I would rather die standing than live on my knees…" He halted as they were already next to a tree. He put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her down to make her sit in front of it.

"But to be frank, I highly doubt your father will get his chance with any of us. You underestimate us, we are well prepared and we don't bend easily."

"Actually." She let out a dry chuckle. "I think you make too much of yourselves. Defeating The Kingdom? Never before has it happened and it never will, a bunch of savage Outlaws are no match for The Kingdom."

"You'll be surprised to know how a great number of people who believe it can be done live inside your castle's walls." He said as he prepared the rope to tie her in. "Maybe we don't have to do much, maybe The Kingdom will fall from within.

"You lie." Regina said convinced. He wanted to make her doubt and she wasn't going to fall prey to that trick.

"Am I?" He smiled again as he put the rope around her. He didn't tie her tight, and most definitely he didn't tie her upside down. He just secured her against the tree as she sat in front of it.

"Take this." He took a large coat out of the sack and gave it to her. It was rough against her skin but thick enough to keep her warm.

She didn't want to take it out of pride, but she knew she couldn't turn it down. She wrapped herself with it as he walked away to join the others.

It was going to be a long night and she wanted nothing more than to be home. She prayed again, this time for her rescue to come before the night was over.

XxXxX

The first rays of lights that came with dawn found Regina already awaken. Sleep hadn't come easy for her. She had just dozed off occasionally, neither asleep nor awake. Being out in the open while strapped into a tree wasn't comfortable at all.

Her limbs felt numb, her head was aching and she was trembling; her body was protesting its lack of nourishment. She felt ill.

She was hugging her knees close to her chest and her head was buried into them. She could hear the Outlaws moving and talking, their horses neighing but she couldn't find it in herself to look up.

During the night she had nothing to do other than to think about her current situation, and as day neared her initial terror was replaced by a dull resignation, she had lost all hope.

There was no way her father would find his way to her, even with Graham's help.

She cursed destiny for abandoning her, the Outlaws for snatching her away and yes, even her father for getting them all into that mess.

As she mused about all that, she heard someone approaching, still she remained immobile. Even when the rope around her midsection became loose and she was released.

"Get up." It was Robin; she could recognize all their voices by now. She didn't care that he was talking to her and did not move. Let them do whatever they wanted, she just didn't care.

He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her up effortlessly. She tried to push him away as he held her close to him but in her weaken state she couldn't even move him a bit.

He was fresh from what appeared to be a dip into the river, his body still damp from it. "Are you willing to behave nicely or do I have to tie you once more?" There was a hint of amusement in his voice that didn't go unnoticed to her.

She hated him.

She couldn't respond and limited herself to look at him stupidly. Her numb legs didn't seem to support her weight and she had to rest her hands against his chest for support. As she did that, she was very much conscious of how the warmness of him felt beneath her palms even through the fabric of his clothes, so smooth and hard at the same.

She wanted to yank her hands away, only that she didn't and she hated him for reducing her to nothing.

His own hands were still settled at her waist, holding her still and she wanted him to stop touching her too. He didn't either.

"Very well." He took her silence as an agreement and moved away from her. A sense of relief washed over her. He guided her next to the dying fire and she followed him with clumsy steps, her legs felt like goo.

Ruby was the only one there, the other two she couldn't see. The woman was rummaging into the contents of one sack. She took out a bundle of clothes and gave them to Regina.

"Put that on. It wouldn't do for you to walk into next town wearing that." She turned around and took from the same sack a bun wrapped in a brown paper; she gave it to her too. "And you need to eat, you look awful. But let me warn you, if you throw that away I'll forget my manners; and you don't want to meet me when I don't mind my manners."

Regina was unable to reply, she just unwrapped the bun and sat down, the change of clothes forgotten at her side. She wasn't planning on throwing that one away.

She tried not to appear too eager while eating, but when the duo walked a safe distance from her she gulfed it down. The bun was filled with cheese and some kind of meat, eating it made her feel a bit better. She saw a cup with water nearby and washed it down too.

Already fed up, she eyed the Outlaws. Their backs were to her as they talked in muffled voices. After a while Ruby turned and headed back to her while Robin walked away.

The woman took the clothes in her hand and motioned Regina to follow her. She did, a bit hesitant. They walked towards the river and when they got there Ruby sat in a rock not too far away from the shore.

"Wash yourself and be quick about it." Now the woman in red said that with a bored look on her face as she handed the their captive a small bar of soap.

For a few seconds, Regina just eyed her. She was dusty and washing up sounded inviting, but she was reluctant to bathe in front of an Outlaw.

"Get moving, we don't have all day."

Pouting her lips, Regina looked around the vast valley; the three men were nowhere to be found so there was only Ruby to worry about. If you asked her, that was a person too much because yes, she has bathed in front of her ladies numerous times at the stream, but always in her undergarments so she didn't feel like bearing it all in front of a savage. The men could be lurking around too. She decided to enter the river clothed.

"Prude." Ruby laughed.

Ignoring her, Regina tried her best to wash as fast as she could while the fabric of her undergarment plastered against her skin, she did overly well by her judgment.

Clean and freshen up, she walked out of the icy cold water and approached Ruby. She didn't know if it was the food, the cold water or the sense of resignation than washed over her. But that morning she felt confident enough to talk to them, at least to her.

"Why bother feeding me and getting me clean if you are going to kill me?" It was a question that had been bothering her so she asked.

"Who said we wanted to kill you, silly girl, you are of no use dead. Now hurry up."

Regina striped quickly off her damp clothes as Ruby looked away. She put on the revealing underwear and then the leather pants and shirt they gave her. It felt weird against her skin, she was used to the silk and cotton dresses that she and her mother used to order. She had never used anything like it; even the undergarments felt odd, the leather pants hugged her legs oddly and it made her feel unladylike. And the boots, she hated them.

Once she was clothed as a savage, Ruby walked back to their camp. Regina had no choice but to follow.

The Outlaws had started to gather their things around, it seemed like they were getting ready to move on.

"Are you going to exchange me for the other woman?" She asked hopefully.

"If we are lucky… but if we get really lucky, we'll get Snow back soon and keep you as well." With that said, Ruby turned around to face her, there was a smirk on her face. "We'll just have to wait and see" She continued on with her business as Regina stood there perplexed.

Why would they want to keep her once they got their woman?

She was about to ask that when she saw Robin approaching with the other two Outlaws males plus one more. It was the one with the twin brother gone missing that Belle told her about, and he didn't seem to be in a good mood. They all had their horses in tow.

Hook was smirking at her. "Looking good, princess."

"Let's get moving." Robin said and motioned her to come to him. She was reluctant but obeyed him. He intimidated her in a way the others couldn't. The way he looked at her made her feel uneasy and self conscious.

He helped her get on the horse and when she was settled on top of it he climbed behind her. On their first journey she had ridden with the woman, and she found herself mortified to have his body pressed so intimately close to hers. It was indecent for a lady like herself.

"Be safe." Ruby said and waved at them.

Regina looked as Hook sat on the ground, entranced with polishing the edge of his hook while Grumpy started to help Ruby into getting their stuff together. The other one just looked at them with his arms crossed against his chest.

"Where are you taking me?" Regina asked as he reached for the reins. The horse started to move slowly away from the others.

He leaned forward and said close to her ear "Where else, to our home out in The Enchanted Forest."

Regina swallowed hard a lump that had formed in her throat. "What about them?" As fearsome as they had been last night, she would rather have them all together than Robin alone.

She felt his breath brush against her cheek. "They are going to find out how much your daddy really loves you… Oh, and to get Snow back."


	5. Chapter 5

Robin rode fast and wildly, flying low across the valley as the fields ahead of them swallowed them into their verdant vastness. His horse was racing against the wind, its expert hooves steady and fearless.

Regina was not used to his fierce style of mounting. Back at the castle, on the scarce occasions when she fancied mounting her filly, she would ride it with a smooth and graceful gait until the monotony of it bored her, it was how her mother demanded she would ride ever since she got word that she and Graham liked to race against each other when they were about twelve.

Graham earned a whipping for that and ever since she lost the desire of mounting and she now favored the comforts of the royal carriage when venturing outside.

But she was not at the castle, and these savages knew nothing about comforts or of being graceful. Their ways were the old ways, and those ways had left her tights shafted and the muscles of her back and legs wracked in pain.

She couldn't tell how long they had been traveling as her notion of time had been lost a long time ago, but it had been a long while now, enough to leave her sore and impatient.

Summing to her physical nuisances, her nerves were on edge. She had the distinct feeling that the beast was going to bolt and send her sprawling off its back, leaving her battered and broken in the middle of nowhere. She closed her eyes, because even when she knew herself to be secured between her captor's tights, she was afraid to fall off.

So she just clutched tightly the poor beast's mane and let the wind sweep around her while her thoughts went home.

She knew that with each gallop she was being taken farther and further away from the Kingdom. As they advanced forward into hostile territory, she lost what little hope she had left of ever returning to the castle. She wished the wind would carry her away and towards the safety or her home.

After an indefinite amount of time elapsed and a great distance was traveled, Regina felt their pace slowing down. Only then she dared opening her eyes.

She scanned the panorama. The tall grasses that surrounded them swayed and sighed with each breath of the wind as the soft breeze carried the fresh scent of flowers. High above them the sun shone high in the bluest sky she had ever seen. She tried her best to let her mind get lost in the beauty of it all and just ignore the sensations provoked by Robin's body rocking impudently against hers.

Ahead of them, the plains stretched out to the horizon, green and endless. Only a small village, outlined in the distance rose in that sea of grass. It was the first one they had come across with and Robin approached it slowly.

Apprehension took over her as they neared the village. She didn't think likely for the Kingdom to hold territory so far away. It could only be an Outlaw village.

"If you don't want to get into trouble you better keep your mouth shut."

Regina startled. She has been so warped up in her own mind that she hadn't expected to hear his voice, after all neither of them had spoken a word through the entire journey.

"Are you going to tie me if I don't?" Her shaky voice asked as she shifted in the saddle, there was no way escaping his closeness.

Robin chuckled. "Princess, I'm the least of your concerns here. If we are lucky, these people won't know how you are."

Regina didn't like the sound of that. "And if they do?"

He remained silent and she thought he was not going to answer, but after a while he did.

"You'll probably lose your head." He replied casually, like it was not big deal. "You see, the people that dwell in that town are outcast from your Kingdom, deserters and runaway warriors. None of them have any love for you, even if they haven't got a glimpse of your pretty face. They'll kill you on the spot upon knowing who you are."

Now it was her turn to remain silent. She didn't want to get into that village at all.

"You are lucky it was us who got you, now hush." He clucked at the horse and they advanced forward.

They arrived to the village in silence. From up close it seemed more of a gathering of buildings close together than an actual village, it was nothing compared to the few Kingdom's villages she had visited. There was a sign at the entrance, but it was flaked to the point of illegibility. The name of that town remained a mystery to her. Never had she heard or read about a town of outcasts.

At the entrance to the town she saw two men sitting over old wooden boxes. One of them was copper skinned while the other one had long black hair that reached to his shoulders. Both of them were engrossed in a game of cards while they smoked the biggest cigars she had ever seen.

"Robin of Locksley." The black haired one greeted while taking a sip out of a crystal bottle he was cradling in his hands. "Who's that little cutie?" He laughed while nudging at the other one to see. "A new girl for the tavern?"

"Well look at that." Said the other one, he was blowing smoke out of his mouth as he eyed her down.

"You wish Nottingham." Robin said somberly as they passed them by.

Regina didn't like those men at all, or the whole town for that matter. It all seemed to be decaying; the few people that roamed around were mean looking brutes, they all seemed menacing to her eyes and no, she didn't want her head to roll in that dirty hole.

Almost on their way out, when a sense of relief started to wash over her, they came across the biggest building of them all. From the insides the chorus of a song petered out, voices murmuring like broken threads carried the indistinct tune.

A couple of girls that had lost all modesty lingered outside, they were dressed in unimaginable short pants and revealing tops. He stopped in front of the old building and dismounted.

Now, she has been riding with her back to him for so long that she had almost forgotten the face of this stranger that had taken her away. Now he was within her vision, her position from above giving her a clear view of his sculpted features.

She sat uncertain atop the horse, mesmerized at the sight of him. She was definitely getting sick, maybe delirious. He looked up at her with those clear blue eyes and offered a hand to help her down. She could be running a fever too because she reached down for him and got off the beast.

After all that while mounting, her legs felt like rubber and her back cracked in protest. Oddly enough she wanted nothing more than to get back in that horse and ride away from that treacherous place.

"Hey handsome, what can I do for you?" One of the women purred at Robin. Her breast seemed about to pop out of her top as she seductively eyed him. Regina's eyes widened as realization hit her. There were places like this all over the Kingdom, but never in her life had she seen any. He had taken her to a brothel.

Robin looked over and smiled at the woman as he took Regina by the hand. He started to climb the steps into the building and dragged her along.

"You can take care of my horse, Marian, as always."

The woman pouted. "Well you are no fun." She said glancing over at Regina with critical eyes. She then flipped her dark hair and walked to the back of the building.

Regina followed her captor inside just because she wasn't going to be left alone outside. But she was at a loss as to why he would take her into such a place, she was Princess Regina, soon to be Queen Regina, royal blood ran through her veins and she belonged nowhere near a whorehouse.

Once into the offending place she saw a pretty redhead singing while a group of men around her sang along. The woman's singing was beautiful and Regina had to stare for a while, taking a liking to the sound of her voice. Now the men were no good singing along. They all seemed to be drunk.

Robin walked next to the bar and sat in a stool. He motioned her to do the same and she did, uncomfortable and feeling out of place.

"Well I'll be damned, Robin of Locksley sitting at my bar, now that is a surprise." A blonde haired woman smiled behind the counter. "You are far from home, what brings you here?"

Robin's face softened with a smile when he saw the woman. She blew him a kiss. "Swan, this is the last place on all the Kingdoms I expected to see you in. I was actually looking for Mulan to… since when do you bartend here?"

The woman shrugged. "Since there's nothing else to do around here, I mean, other than whoring or singing."

"Well, today is your lucky day. We need you in the field, we are about to raise our banners." Robin eyed Regina and then back to the woman.

"Seriously!" The woman's eyes widened in excitement for a brief moment, then she shrugged again and started mopping the counter with an old rag. "I don't know. Are you going to need Baelfire too?"

Rolling his eyes, Robin leaned forward and whispered. "Emma, this is the big it, and all you worry about is Baelfire? Where's the fire in you? You don't belong behind that counter in this God forsaken pit. You belong in the field, with us."

He eyed Regina again briefly and she pretended not to notice, but she was straining to get all the bits of their conversation.

"You know we need all the help available and yes, Neal is already involved. But this is bigger than him and Hook thrown in together. This is the big one Swan. What do you say, think you can handle it?" He put his hand on top of hers and squeezed, waiting for a reply.

The blonde smiled in affection and Regina wondered how long they had known each other to act so cozy. Somehow she didn't liked the woman.

"Robin, you know I can handle anything." She raised an eyebrow and looked at Regina. She then leaned into him, not taking her eyes away from the dark haired one. "So tell me, this whole thing with you raising your banners and recruiting people around has anything to do with the fact that the King's daughter is sitting at my bar?"

Robin snorted, but Regina's heart started to beat wildly in her chest. Her mind went back to him saying that if someone recognized her she'll lose her head. Would that be the case? All she knew was that the blonde woman was still looking at her.

"So, can we go somewhere else to talk?"

Emma looked around the saloon and whistled. "Hey Ariel, I'm going to take a break."

The pretty redhead that has been singing gave her the thumbs up and quickly got behind the counter so that Emma and Robin could leave to talk.

XxXxXxX

Regina awoke disoriented by the sound of a wolf howling in the distance. She was in a dark room; the only source of light came from the moonlight entering through the window.

She had been comfortably resting on a soft bed, memories of her last waking hours rushed to her head and she grunted.

She was still in the outcast's town, imprisoned in Emma's place. The woman Robin wanted to recruit in his cause of war had fed them and even allowed her to bathe in private. She also gave her fresh clothes to wear, but they were no better than the ones Ruby had given her. After that she had been locked up while the blonde and Robin went about their business outside and while they were out she had fallen asleep.

Once her eyes grew accustomed to the darkness her gaze raked over the small room, she was alone in it. The door was halfway open and thoughts of escaping invaded her mind.

She waited motionless, expecting for someone to come and shut the door, but it never happened. She could also escape through the window, grab Robin's horse and run away. But where would she go?

'_Anywhere but here_.' She thought.

She spotted some of the clothes Emma had taken out for her to wear. They were spread out on top of a dresser next to the door. She'll have to change before making her escape as she was just wearing short trousers that only covered her mid-thigh and a sleeveless shirt, men's clothes if she had to give her opinion. It wouldn't do to flee in those.

Slowly, she rose from the bed. Nothing happened. No one came. But still she remained still, waiting. The wolf that had awakened her had fallen silent by now; only the muffled sound of the wind outside disrupted the silence.

She moved a little further from the bed but she was getting anxious with her slowness. She quickened her steps to get closer to the clothes and thus closer to her escape. But something was holding her foot and she fell to the wooden floor with a thud.

From her place down in the floor she observed in horror that her ankle was tied to the bed with a rope.

Damn him, damn them all to hell. She started to untie the knot frantically. It was impossibly tight and she couldn't do anything with it without a knife, or a dagger. She started to pull her foot out of it. The effort was hurting her skin, but after a struggle with it she managed to free herself from the restraining bondage.

After a while she finally got to her feet but it was already too late. He heard her and was standing at the door, naked from the waist up as his arms crossed against his chest. She eyed the window and tried to calculate if she would have time to dart out of it and run away.

She tried and failed. Before she could even take two steps he grabbed her from behind, holding her helplessly against him and away from her longing freedom. She squirmed and wriggled, but he wasn't giving her an inch, he held on tight.

"Let go of me!" She spat at him, trying to break free of his steel grip.

He walked her to the bed and threw her in it. For a frightening moment she thought that he was going to climb after her and desecrate her body, it was the only thing they hadn't done to her yet, that and striking her. But he didn't, he just stood there looking coldly at her.

"What are you trying to do? Do you actually think you could make it out this town by yourself? You don't even want to know what those men would do to a pretty woman like you roaming alone at night."

Regina sprung to her feet and out of the bed, she walked towards him and shoved him, she actually shoved him hard. "Anything is better than to be a prisoner of your lot." Her voice sounded twisted and spiteful to her own ears.

He took a couple of steps back but didn't defend himself; his face was hard and keen. "So you rather have a mob rape you…"

"I'll rather be home, far away from your filthy presence." She could feel tears scalding her eyes, but she was not going to disgrace herself by crying in front of him. She resolved to take out her frustrations on him; she started pounding on his chest with her fists.

He let her do that for a while, but apparently growing tired of her abuse, he took hold of her and swirled her around. He pushed her against the wall and pinned her arms behind her back with one of his own hands. With the other, he caught her chin and turned it up so that she had no choice but to look him in the eye.

"I hate you." She said with bitter defiance.

"I'm sure you do, and I'm sure you want to get home badly. But that's not going to happen anytime soon. So why don't you behave like a nice little puppet and save us all the trouble of having to drag you around tied up and screaming."

He was crushing her body with his, preventing her escape. It was the closest she has ever been to a man while in such predicament and she found it very hard to think straight with his face mere inches away from hers. It was that and then it was his moist frame pressing against her.

All of it was overwhelming and all her senses were on edge. Her skin to his felt on fire, his eyes on hers hypnotizing and the sound of his voice so low on his throat disconcerting. She could even detect the distinct scent of soap clinging to him so she was going to assume he was just out of bathing.

Maybe that was why he was shirtless.

"You ought to be thankful that we are not the animals your warriors are, because you and I both know that Snow's fate in the Kingdom is far much worse than yours."

"Oh, so now I have to thank you? She spat challenging him with her glance. "I don't give a damn about your woman; in fact I hope she's rotting in the pits of the dungeon." Now that was an outright lie, but at this point she wanted nothing more than to make him feel as incompetent as she felt.

She gasped as he tightened his grip on her chin, his fingers digging cruelly in her flesh. His gaze on her was heated as he held her immobile, trapped between his hard body and the cold wall.

She swallowed hard and tried to get her composure back together. She wanted to say or do something, but it resulted impossible.

He leaned even closer to her, his breath hot an inviting against her face, his body taunting hers with his closeness while their lips almost touched. She wanted them to touch, she would let him do it and that scared her.

"You better start praying that she is unharmed, because if she's not, only you are going to pay the consequences."

He released his grip on her chin, but his darkened eyes never left hers and his face didn't back away an inch. She stood there frozen, lost in the depths of his blue eyes.

"Emma!" he let go of her and took a step back, leaving her all bothered and confused.

The blonde appeared at the room quick enough, as if she had been witnessing the whole thing.

"Go get my horse, the Princess and I have a long way to go."


	6. Chapter 6

She was mortified.

She couldn't quite understand how or why but the fact was that her treacherous body was still delighted with the memory of Robin's solid frame pressed close against hers in that dark room.

It was something new, something she hadn't felt before and in her confusion all she could think about was of how his fresh scent still tormented her senses even now that he was far from her. Yes, that was all that reigned in her mind, that and the phantom touch of his naked flesh that still lingered to warm her all over.

She tried to shake the tormenting feelings out of her system, but as it turned out she just couldn't.

Truth was, common sense had left her for a short while and she almost made a fool of herself back in that room. Her mind was in disparity with the rest of her body; both were engaged in a gruesome battle for her sanity and it seemed her mind was the weakest combatant. It was a battle her mind couldn't afford to lose.

Now they were about to embark into another long journey and she wasn't sure if her body was ready to take more of that sweet torture that was his taunting closeness.

"You shouldn't cross him like that."

Regina came back to the harsh reality of her captivity when the blonde standing at her side rushed her to it. She just eyed the other woman; they were both waiting in front of the stable while Robin saddled his horse inside.

The bitter coldness of the night embraced her and she shuddered involuntarily.

"He's a good man." Emma said with her gaze lost somewhere in the darkness. "But what you said about Snow was mean and uncalled for."

Regina didn't respond and limited herself to stare at the woman.

"You see, he worries for her as your own worries for you. They are close, those in The Council are very protective with each other and just the idea of The Kingdom holding her hostage drives him mad, I bet it drives them all mad."

"Do you expect me to feel bad about it?" Regina said in false indifference. "Her situation is no different than mine."

"That's were you are wrong, it is very different. You stand before me unharmed, feed and rested. Maybe a little worn out and sore but that's not too grave. Snow, on the other hand… we can't be so sure about her conditions."

Regina's mind drifted back to the gloomy dungeon and the woman imprisoned there. It wasn't a comfortable place to be, that she knew very well.

"You on the other hand don't have to worry about being harmed or mistreated and you won't be thrown in a dungeon to rot. Hell, you don't even have to worry about Robin or any of the others dishonoring you. I mean, unless you want him to… Robin that is." The woman laughed playfully. "I bet he'll be happy to comply if that's what you want, I mean I saw what happened back at my place and damn that was intense."

Regina's eyes widened in disbelieve at the woman's insolence and she couldn't help but to gasp. "Of course I don't want him to."

Who did that woman believe she was? She was soon to be Queen, she was not some cheap whore in the middle of nowhere and no, she was not willing to disgrace her family's name or the honor of her future husband; and with a savage none the less.

But then she remembered the way her body reacted to his, the urgent need of her lips to touch his as she lost herself into those eyes. She could feel a blush taking over her face.

She has never felt even halfway like that when thinking about her future husband… in fact, there was nothing that appealed her of the man.

But because she wasn't going to admit that out loud, she held her head up high and gave an indifferent shrug. "As far as I'm concern he can keep his filthy hands to himself."

Emma snorted. "Well, your loss then. In that case you shall be all right with him though, Robin is an honorable man even if he loses his temper from time to time."

After saying that, Emma kept her quiet for a moment, considering before speaking again.

"I'll give you a wise advice, if you want to conserve your virtue, if you still have it that is, stay away from Hook. That man can sweet-talk you into anything. Believe me, I know from experience."

Regina felt a bit uncomfortable, not only for the unwelcomed memories of Robin's closeness, but for the direction the conversation had taken. The Swan woman was bold in her talking and she was not used to it. It was far from the sweet conversations her ladies used to have about boys and furtive kisses.

And since she has never participated on those conversations, all of it was new to her. She was always a listener, her mind resigned with the fact that she was never to have those feelings with the King.

"Did he had his way with you?" She asked with morbid curiosity. She remembered clearly the one called Hook and his mocking grin.

"Oh yeah, many a time" She laughed again. "Killian likes his games and I just fell prey to him like a fool."

Regina didn't know what to say so she kept her mouth shut.

"You know what, I kind of like you so I'll give you an inside look to the rest of the Council so you'll know what to expect. Hook I already told you, Snow is a titan of a woman and very well loved among her people, it's a shame what's happening to her. Let's see… Robin you already know, or will know for that matter. I'll let you judge that one for yourself. Charming is just, well, charming, he's brave but very easy to like, but after your people took Snow I doubt he's in his best mood. Ruby, she's a bit on the crazy side, but she's all right too. Then there's…" Rolling her eyes and slapping her forehead as if she almost said something she shouldn't say, Emma closed her eyes and cussed. "Anyway, you really shouldn't worry about any of them. Oh here he comes Robin."

Regina looked at the man himself; he was making his way towards them with his horse in tow. By the look on his face she could tell he was still in a foul mood. He had put on a shirt and she found herself oddly relieved with the fact.

"I packed you these." Emma said giving her a small sack. "Some clothes for the journey, they are not fit for a princess but it will do to keep you warm."

"Thank you." Regina smiled slightly at the blonde as she took the sack. "I'll remember your kindness when I get back to the castle."

It was Emma's turn to smile. "I don't think you'll remember the likes of me once you stride out of this place, but wherever your path takes you I wish you the best of lucks."

"Sorry to interrupt your chit chat, but it's time to go." Robin said curtly, he had finally made his way to them.

"I will." Regina said ignoring Robin. Emma just nodded and when the man motioned the bar keeper to walk to him she did.

It made the princess wonder what was Emma's relationship with Robin and the rest of the Outlaws.

As she mused about that, she watched as they both talked in hushed voices, but she couldn't understand a word.

"All right, we will most certainly be waiting for you, Swan." With that said, Robin walked back toward Regina and helped her onto his destrier. He climbed after her.

Biting on her lips, the brown eyed woman tensed when Robin reached for the reins because as he did that, he brushed her thigh briefly. That made her wonder and not for the first time, how far away this Enchanted Forest was.

"Be safe." Emma waved at them as they strode out of town and into the wilderness of the night. For the next few days, Regina didn't think of the woman at all.

Now, as they got away from town, Robin rode with wild fury, but no matter how fast his horse ran, time seemed to drag into an eternity for her. He was just too close.

By the second day Regina gave up all hope of getting used to it, and only when they made camp for the night would she feel a small sense of normalcy return to her. She didn't like sleeping on the open and the sounds of the night creeped her out, but at least under the rough fabric of the blankets he provided she didn't feel so self-conscious of his closeness.

They came upon the first group of wandering folks on their third day of traveling. That small group had summed less than a dozen, all walking in sorrow towards the unknown. But as Robin's horse plodded deeper into foreign territory they encountered even more groups, each one bigger than the last.

The current group made for a sullen herd. They walked as if by instinct, dragging their tired feet along the muddy terrain as the road ahead of them extended indefinitely. Their scarce belongings were a heavy burden on their backs and they hunched under its weight. A few lucky ones rode in old rickety wagons that seemed about to break with the bumpy road, those were given the grievous task of carrying the wounded.

They made a pitiful sigh.

A fine misty rain accompanied them in their journey, the sky weeping as it witnessed the exodus of the broken group, following them as they sought refuge in this strange country.

Regina watched them in silence from above; none of those grieving souls recognized her as their princess. She thanked the Gods for that small blessing.

Due to the persistent drizzle her hair hung wet against her shoulders and her clothes hugged her body almost obscenely. She was cold and drenched to the bone and she could only imagine how wild she must look. But for once she could care less, there were other matters swirling in her head.

Robin rode among the group asking his questions, the light sucking sounds his horse made as its hooves pulled free of the mud mingling with their words.

Back from the first group, the stories had been the same. A battalion of Knights from the Kingdom lead by The King's own right hand, Rumpelstiltskin had come into their villages searching for something unknown to the peasants.

After not finding it, Rumple would leave in a rage toward next village, but not before burning and killing everything in sight. They had been the lucky ones and managed to escape. Now they had no place to call their own.

Regina was sure they were looking for her whereabouts, and she had been alleviated with that. But the rest of these people's stories made no sense at all. These were the Kingdom's farthest residents, sworn in fealty to the realm. They were her own people. Why would her father allow The King to force them out of their homes when he was bound to protect them? She was at a loss.

They made their slow progress among the pitiful bunch, listening to their tales of horror. As she listened, a pounding took residence at her temples; they talked about how the merciless knights killed at random and her heart grew heavy with each anecdote.

Some even claimed to have seen The King himself riding through villages, watching indifferently the suffering he was provoking.

By now shame had consumed her entrails, leaving her empty and devoid of anything pure. Her mind couldn't begin to comprehend why the Kingdom would support the ravaging of its own villages.

That was something her father would never allow and she silently damned the King for reacting in such a way.

"Now you see who the real savages are." The low voice came as a slap to the face from the man sitting close behind her.

Regina swallowed hard; there was a heavy ache deep in her chest that wanted to explode, it clenched around her heart and wouldn't let go. All this was taking a huge toll on her. She felt like crying, but she wouldn't allow herself to do so in front of Robin.

So she just remained in silence, witnessing the suffering of her own people while his words chastised her wounded heart.

"What kind of King sends the strength of his knights against innocent people? What does that makes your kin for allowing it if not bloodthirsty savages." Robin kept stinging her with his words. She shut her eyes, wishing he would just shut up and let her be.

Taking in a shaky breath, she brushed away a loose strand that stuck to her cheek. She didn't grace Robin with a reply as she had none to give.

But he was not done with her. He leaned in closer, his chest pressing even more against her tense back. "And to think your father wanted to marry you to the hand that carried this on. If you come to look at it this way, we saved you from that one, Regina, you ought to be thankful…"

Ignoring the tingling sensation in her stomach provoked by hearing her name spoken in that accent of his for the first time, Regina looked down at the strong hands holding the reins. She was trying to evade feeling anything, but his words hung persistently against her ears to make her cringe.

"But let's not worry that pretty head of yours with words of gratitude, chances are you don't know any…" He whispered, his lips brushing ever so lightly the tender skin behind her ear, she found herself unable to breathe.

A slight shiver ran through her whole body, adding more fuel to her already distressed self. The merest of his touch and she almost forgot about the procession of people looking for safety all around her, a slight touch to erase the memory of it all.

"Let just be content that we are almost there." He slid a finger under her chin and lifted her face toward the horizon, his warm lips still teasing her skin. She looked; glad that he was behind her so he wouldn't take notice of her flushed face.

Ahead of them, the black silhouette of a city outlined against the setting sun. It came as a vision from afar, a bit blurred by the light rain but still impressive to her eyes. It rose majestically amidst a semi-circle of immense mountains covered by huge trees that bordered it safe. The broad wooden gate, almost as tall as the mountains, was sided by two watch towers. The city was impenetrable, a safe haven for those looking refuge.

Regina never thought it would be so big. All the books in the castle's library claimed that Outlaws were a disorganized nomad tribe; they had no place to call home as they never settled for long. But her eyes were not deceiving her; The Enchanted Forest stood almost as big as the Kingdom's biggest city.

"I'll venture to guess it was not what you expected." He dropped his finger off her chin and let out a sigh, his soft breath caressing her cheek.

She had been entranced by the sigh of his place, a city she dreaded to enter, but he took her out of that trance when he brushed behind her ear one rebel strand of hair that kept sticking itself onto her cheek, his finger tracing a line of fire across her skin.

Did he really have to do that? She shifted uncomfortably, a bit flustered by his actions.

"There are more of them." She tried to focus on what was happening in front of her and not on the man behind her. It was just wrong to be thinking about things she had no business to be thinking when an ill-fated group of her people roamed around homeless, driven away by her future husband.

There was a small amount of people standing outside the gate, waiting for admittance into the city. Had they been forced out of their homes as well?

"Will they be let in?" She asked as they approached.

"We will always welcome the oppressed." He clucked at his horse and it flew forward.

When they finally reached the massive gate the rain had stopped and dusk was settling in. The cool breeze that reigned in this strange land blowing without mercy on her damp frame, she shivered.

At the base of the left tower, there was a wide iron gate. It was open and a handful of small men that reminded her of the one they called Grumpy were allowing the solemn crowd to enter in order.

"It was about time." One of them said cheerfully as he noticed the arrival of his fellow Outlaw. He eyed her quickly, but said nothing.

"Happy." Robin replied as he passed through the gate and pass the man. "Busy night?"

"You can say so; they are pouring in by the dozens and still more to come. Want to trade?"

"Not at all." Robin chuckled as he dismounted.

"Oh well!"

Both men laughed as he helped her off the horse. He grabbed her by the waist, as always, but once she was on her own two feet his hands lingered there a while more than it was necessary.

He only let go when a lad came running towards them and took the reins of the horse. Robin greeted him by name, Pinocchio.

Once the kid and the horse were gone, the two Outlaws kept on talking as she scanned her surroundings.

From outside it looked big, but once inside she found the city to be immense, its splendor extended far into the mountains behind it. Not even in the books had she seen anything so remarkable. The crowded, dirty cities of the Kingdom were nothing compared to this.

She could even see a lake, a lake within a city! Back in the Kingdom they only had the spring and that was out of city limits.

She startled when his hand took hers and she looked at him perplexed. He didn't waste his precious time by looking at her, he just lead her into the city.

As they walked through she drank in it all; there was the mandatory market, the houses, stables and of course, training facilities. There were also two huge pavilions. One was for the sick and the second held large tables with food waiting to be served. It was where her people were being tended. She wondered where would they sleep.

The few people outside were too busy with the refuges to take notice of them as they walked by. Robin seemed to be in haste because when she stopped to take a closer look at the pavilions and the people in it, he pulled her into him. He kept walking forward and she had no choice but to follow his quick steps.

Up front and near the lake, there was an impressive building. An elaborated portico led to the entrance and he walked her right through it. Once inside, she noticed two sets of stairs at each side of the airy saloon that lead to upper floors. They formed an arch and into that arch there was a smaller room. That seemed to be their destination.

She entered the room, very aware of his warm hand still holding hers. There were two people already in, a tall redhead woman and an old man. The man was sitting in a round table while the woman rummaged in a huge bookshelf. They both looked at the newcomers as they entered.

"Here she is, the destined Queen of all the Kingdom, Regina Mills." He made her go forward and closer to the table.

The man stood up from his chair, looking at her with a hint of indifference. "I would have arranged a welcoming feast but it's hard to cheer under the circumstances. I do hope your journey here had been a pleasant one."

Regina glared at him with contemp. Pleasant was not a word to describe her journey. She had been kidnapped, not taken for sightseeing.

"She tends to be a bit unruly at first, but at the end of the day she's manageable." Robin let go of her hand and sat in one of the empty chairs. She shot him a heated glance. His blue eyes were staring right into hers even though he was talking to his fellow Outlaw.

She looked away. Truth be told, he disconcerted her when he looked at her that way…

"So tell me child, do you have any idea of why are you here?" The old man asked approaching her, his face was an unreadable mask as he looked down to her.

She choose not to reply.

The man lifted her chin and forced his hard eyes on hers. She held his gaze as he studied her.

"Zelena, why don't you show our guest to her rooms while Robin and I attend some pressing matters." He walked away and sat beside the younger man.

"Of course, Apprentice." The redhead woman turned around to face her. There was a smile on her lips that bordered on insolence and just by looking at her Regina knew she didn't like her, nor did she liked the so called Apprentice.

Zelena took her by the arm and led her out the room and up the stairs. They walked in silence through a long corridor until stopping in front of a door. Once the door was opened Zelena shoved her inside. At that, Regina lost her balance and almost came sprawling to the floor.

Once she was steady she turned around to face the woman. "Hey…" She started to protest but Zelena held a hand inches away from her face and motioned her to shut up.

"Let me explain to you something. Things will be a bit different from now on. You are a prisoner not a guess, so you'll be treated as such. You might have enchanted Robin with your sweet little face, but to me you are no one, so don't you dare raising your voice to me ever again, understood?" The woman rolled her eyes and stormed out of the room before she could even reply.

Regina was taken aback with the insolent of a woman and just stood in the middle of the room. When she was able to recover she walked to the door only to find it locked.

She let out a curse that would make her mother rage but she didn't care. Her mother was thousands of leagues away and she would probably never see her again.

She looked around the room. It had no windows and only a bed adorned its emptiness. Would this be her prison for eternity? She looked some more and found there were some clothes thrown over the bed. She examined them, they were more savage clothes but at least they were clean and dry. There was also a small washroom into her room and she found it held all the necessary tools for her to be imprisoned a long time without having to be left out.

The thought that she might never see the sun shining again depressed her to no end. None of it was fair, if it would only be a bad dream. If only her father hadn't given the command to take that woman…

She felt tears sliding out of her eyes and she wiped at them angrily with her fist. She was not going to cry, she has been breed to be a Queen and even if that was not to be now, she would conduct herself as one.

It was after all in her blood and from where she was from, Queens were made of hard steel, or at least that was what her mother used to say. Besides she could not cry herself out of this. What she needed to do was find a real solution for her problems.

So, stripping out of her soiled clothes she started to make plans in her head, looking for a way out. She studied all reasonable ways and some unconventional ones, but by the time she came out of the washroom, clean and refreshed she hadn't come with any good ideas.

She was still considering new ideas and brushing more aside when the door opened. It was Zelena. She was carrying a silver plate and a small pitcher, a grin plastered in her face.

"Here is your food." With that said the woman dropped the plate to the floor, food spilling all over. "And here is your water." Now she was pouring the clear liquid over the spilled food and then, she closed the door and left her alone with the spoiled food.

Regina blinked a couple of times before venturing to the door. It was locked again, she hadn't expected otherwise. She knelt down and saw with sorrow that there was nothing edible among the mess Zelena had made of the food, instead she took the plate and considered its texture. It was hard.

With the plate in her hand, she walked to the bed and lay down. She fell asleep embracing it, and that night she dreamt she was back at the castle…


	7. Chapter 7

She was being kept in the dark, denied of ever seeing the stars shivering in a distant endless sky while the face of a pale full moon looked at her from above; denied to bathe in the warm light of the morning sun, of feeling the growing grass prickling at her feet while a soft fragrant breeze swirled around her.

From within her prison she yearned for those things, she would even give away her royal claim just to be allowed outside.

But with each passing day she grew more and more convinced that there would not be a way out for her. She was going to rot in that room while her mind shattered in a million pieces.

She didn't even know day from night, or how many days had gone by since that awful first day. It could be a fortnight, but it could also been less than that… she wasn't sure anymore. No matter how long it had been, it sure had felt like a lifetime in purgatory.

Her only link to the outside world was Zelena, and that wicked woman was a huge part of her misfortune. More often than not the she succeeded in making her already unbearable captivity a pure hell. She spoiled her food pretty often, put out all the lights to leave her surrounded by darkness and she would always rankle her with her hateful remarks.

On more than one occasion, Regina has been tempted to use the silver plate hidden under the bed to erase away her sly grin. Sometimes she even dreamt of it, of smashing it against her face when she wasn't expecting it.

So far she had refrained from doing so.

Apart from the redhead, Regina has been left alone with her thoughts. Her days were long, her nights a torment and the only thing she could do to pass the day was to dwell on her memories, reliving happier times when there was not a worry in her mind.

Sighing because there was not much to do other than dealing with it, she heard a noise outside and recognized it as footsteps. They were growing louder somewhere in the corridor until they stopped at her door. Being in solitary for so long had sharpened her senses and when the door opened to reveal a grinning Zelena she wasn't surprised.

"Well hello dear!" The woman said in an unaccustomed cheerful tone, she sounded phony. She was carrying a small tray with food in one hand and a bag in the other one. She set the tray down at the foot of the bed and started to take out candles from the bag.

Regina looked suspiciously as she lit the candles while humming some unknown song. The woman kept on with her farce, and the captive reassumed brushing her hair. She knew Zelena was up to something and she was sure she would let her know soon enough.

"I have great news." She finally said in her thick accent while she looked at her with an exaggerated frown. "Anyway, we just scored a great victory over your stupid Kingdom."

At the words, Regina eyed the other woman but did not respond, she did however stop brushing her hair.

"Want to know why?" Zelena purred after finishing lighting the whole room with candles.

"Just tell me if you have to and begone." The dark haired rasped with a hint of impatience. Her vocal cords were rusty by lack of use and her throat ached a little. But she did want to know what the woman had to say, chances were it was a lie but either way…

As if the whole thing amused her, Zelena laughed a fake laugh and clapped her hands. "The Council got Snow back, as we speak she must be in her rooms"

Regina glanced at her with distrust. "They negotiated her release?" She asked in wonder. If that was the case then why was she still there? It didn't make any sense.

"Of course they didn't. Our warriors were able to strike a surprise attack into the Kingdom and liberated her. Why do you think your knights are all over the place killing clueless peasants? They are desperate."

Blinking her eyes a couple of times, Regina tried to absorb what the other woman had just said. If the Outlaws indeed got Snow back without making an exchange then her own fate was sealed. The only thing that had kept her alive was the woman's confinement in the Kingdom. Now they could do anything to her, anything.

"Now we can get rid of you. We can sell you into slavery or to a whorehouse, but we might just starve you to death." Zelena walked over to the bed and stood on top of the tray, ruining her dinner/breakfast. "Or we'll just keep you here until you grow old and grey and everyone forgets about the princess that once was."

Through all the words, Regina tried to maintain her composure. "You lie. But if what you say is truth then summon one of the members of your Council and make them say it to me." She didn't want to believe that, it put her safety in jeopardy.

Zelena laughed again. "You forget yourself child; this is not your castle where people do as you command. The Council is far too busy to come and pay the likes of you a little visit. Winning a war is not an easy task besides, they are not even here."

Regina shrugged. "One of them must be around; you told me yourself that they never went out of the city at once. So go and get one."

"Don't try to order me around, I'm not your maid." Judging by her tone, she wasn't cheerful anymore.

Wanting to push her buttons the same way the other woman has been doing to her, Regina favored her with a grin of her own and stood up from the bed. She walked to her until the two were standing one in front of the other. "Yes you are."

Regina saw as anger took over the woman's features and before she could even react the imprudent redhead slapped her across the face.

It was a first for her; no one has ever dared to strike her in all her life and that the Outlaw had done so enraged her. She didn't think it twice before returning the favor. There was nothing to lose, she was already doomed.

"How dare you!" Yelped the Zelena while holding her cheek. She tried to hit her again but the princess was able to push her away.

That was when everything went wrong.

Zelena stumbled backwards, her feet tangling with some of the candles she had put earlier, spilling them off their vase. The flames reached the bed quick enough and in no time it caught fire. It happened so fast that neither woman had time to react.

"What have you done?" The Outlaw yelled as she looked around for something to put the fire out.

Not knowing what to say or what to do, Regina shook her head in denial; she hadn't meant to make a pyre out of the bed. She observed in horror as Zelena took a piece of cloth that lay on the floor and started to hit the bed with it. The fabric caught fire in her hands and the tall woman threw it over to join the already ablaze bed.

Reacting, Regina ran to the washroom and filled a bowl with water. She ran back to the bed and poured it over it, it was no good use as the bowl was too small but she repeated the action anyway. Zelena took notice and copied her, going back and forth with another small bowl. Sometimes they would bump into each other, spilling the water before it reached its destination but overall they were doing pretty good. Two sworn enemies united momentarily to put a fire out.

"What is going on here?"

Over the cracking of the fire Regina heard the unknown voice and turned around. It was one of the Outlaws, Charming. She poured the water onto the bed as she looked at him stupidly, he strode into the room.

With a curse, he grabbed each woman by an arm and pushed them out of the room. "Get her out of here." He said to no one in particular but Regina was sure he was talking to Zelena. "And get the Apprentice over here before the whole building burns to the ground."

Once outside the room, Regina looked at Zelena. "You are so screwed little princess." Then she began to laugh wholeheartedly.

XxXxXxX

Regina found herself in the room with the big round table once again. The Apprentice was sitting on it, a solemn look on his face while Charming paced impatiently around him. She was standing, her hands bounded in front of her as the old man considered about her fate.

"Look, do whatever you want with her, I'll go back to Snow. I don't want her to be by herself " With that said, the young blond man stopped his pacing and headed out the door.

The Apprentice didn't even move as the other man left but all Regina could think was that Zelena had been saying the truth, the Outlaws had Snow back.

"What are you going to do with me?" She ventured to ask.

"I have a couple of ideas that I want to discuss with the Council. As for now, we'll have to look for other accommodations,."

"You mean prison." Regina said defiantly.

"You sure are more talkative than the first time we met." He stopped and considered for a moment. "Anyhow, prison, room… either way it will be better than a dungeon."

"I had nothing to do with your woman's confinement so why don't you just let me go."

"And what good would that make us?"

Regina shrugged.

"If things go my way, you won't ever leave The Enchanted Forest. I don't like this war, none of us want it. I have half the Council outside our gates battling the advancing troops of the Kingdom while the city fills with refugees. I'll soon have to leave myself and bring Charming with me, tearing him apart from a woman who has weakened after spending more than a fortnight imprisoned in a dungeon under dire circumstances, and to top that off I'll have to leave the burden of the city to that same woman."

"We'll battle to the end and I'm confident we are going to win this one, but what would prevent The King to keep from attacking through your father's reign and his own if we turn you over?"

"So I'll get to be your eternal prisoner." Regina said in disdain.

"You get to be one of our own. If the Council approves I intend to arrange a marriage for you. It won't be any different than what you father did by promising you to The King. Maybe you'll even bear your Royal children here."

Regina gasped in shock, her eyes widening in disbelief. "You can't do that, I won't consent that nonsense!"

"We'll see about that." The older man said in confidence.

"You are mad." She replied distressed as her mind ran a thousand miles per second.

True, her betrothal with the King was also an arrangement, one to unify the Kingdoms and not necessarily something she personally wanted; but her mother had engraved into her mind for so long that it was her duty and destiny to have that marriage that she has come to see it as something natural, something that was just going to happen.

But marrying a savage? That was never going to happen.

She was about to say that when all of a sudden the door busted open and Robin entered the room, imposing as ever. He was sweaty, battered and didn't seem to be in a good mood. He seemed the very exact image of a savage and a shiver ran down her spine as soon as she saw him. More so when his eyes found hers before moving to the Apprentice in query.

The old man tilted his head; his ever serious expression didn't change. "Robin, didn't expected you so soon."

"We just came for new mounts; we'll leave at first light."

"Well enough, Charming and I will leave with you as well. But for now I need you to find our guest here shelter for the night, maybe to Ruby's?"

Robin shook his head. "She's still in the field."

"Then take her with you, her room suffered a mishap. It will only be until the morrow."

"A mishap?" He repeated looking at her with his unreadable blue eyes.

"She burnt it down."

It was an accident, she wanted to say but decided to keep her quiet. Who cared about their stupid prison and their stupid building, she didn't want to bear their savage children.

"Is that so…" He mumbled still looking at her. "And what would prevent her from burning my place?"

"She won't, right Regina?"

"I might as well just do that." She said raising an eyebrow and straightening her posture.

"Then you better keep her tied up and away from candles." The Apprentice said as he stood up.

Running a hand down his face, Robin snickered humorlessly. "I knew I should have gone straight to my place." He grabbed her by the arm and guided her out the building.

Regina had little time to enjoy her suppressed freedom, the walk to Robin's place was short and she had to follow his fast pace. But as short as it has been it was good to breathe fresh air and see the stars once again; she never thought she would miss the chilly air of the night so much.

Once in his place, Robin kicked the door shut and guided her in. It was dark inside, and she couldn't take the surroundings as she would have like to.

"Let me make something clear." He grunted as he untied her hands in a quick motion, he didn't bother to light the room so only the moonlight entering through the window killed the darkness. "I'm tired, crabby and definitely in no mood for you or your little antics so do us both a favor and just keep out of my way." After saying that, he walked into another room and left her standing there.

Snorting and more than a little taken aback, Regina did a double take.

He was not in the mood for her? The man had kidnapped her, dragged her across the country and now he didn't want _her_ to bother _him_. She was fuming.

Definitely not thinking rationally, she followed him into the other room. "You are not in the mood for me?" She snapped. "Well as it turns out I'm not in the mood for any of you either and yet I have to suffer you and your whole lot. You've tied me up, drag me around into this stupid country, I even had to endure that wicked woman who wanted to starve me to death and _you_don't want _me_ to bother _you_!"

Robin ran a hand though his hair and took a deep breath. He turned around and started to look for clean clothes in one dresser. "You are giving me a headache so just keep it shut."

She stood there, her mouth a tight line and her nails digging into her palms. She had never been so frustrated in her whole life. When he tried to enter his washroom she grabbed the first thing her hand came into and threw it at him.

His reflexes were good though and he managed to duck the flying object. It crashed against the door and fell to the floor with a hollow thud.

"What the bloody hell do you think you are doing?" He asked, his accent more marked than ever while turning to her.

She could clearly see that he was getting angrier by the minute and she was glad.

"Oh, did that bother you?" She took yet another object and threw it too. He didn't have to duck because her aim was off.

"For real, are you going to throw a royal hissy fit now?" He grumbled as he moved towards her. She has taken hold of a vase now and he apparently wanted to reach her before she could throw it at him too.

He snapped it off her hands without breaking a sweat and when he was near enough she reached out to him and slapped him hard in the face, taking all her frustration and anger against him. His head rocked the slightest bit to the side and when he faced her again his glare was heated.

She didn't care. She was fed up and cranky too.

In fact she was so out of herself that she even went for a second strike, she wanted to hit him, unfortunately for her he grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"Don't do that again."

"I hate you, you and your damn people and everything-" Before she could go on, she was cut off abruptly when Robin grabbed the back of her head and pulled her to him. He pressed his lips hard into hers and a protest was drowned in her throat.

She tried to pull away, but his hand locked at the back of her head, securing her against his lips. He invaded her hungrily, forcing her lips to part so he could slide his warm tongue in, and as soon as it made contact with hers she felt the world spinning around her.

It was the first time ever that someone kissed her and she just didn't know what to do.

While one of his hands held her head the other found its way to her lower back, pressing her against his body. Her heart was fluttering in her chest and deep in her mind she knew she had to stop him. She pushed at his shoulders, but there was no force in her intents.

The kiss went on and she was flustered when she could not stop her own tongue to dance along with his.

He probed her, nibbled at her lips and teased her into action while her body molded into his. He was stealing her every breath out of her being and swallowing them as his own.

Her anger was forgotten, she could only concentrate on sensations.

Deep within her legs a pleasant ache was unfolding, making it difficult for her to form a coherent thought. She had to stop it, but she was unable to, she was getting drunk on him.

Not even in her wildest dreams had she imagine a kiss to be like that. Somehow he managed to tangle her emotions beyond control and she was now a prisoner of the moment.

She gasped into the kiss and as if the sound made him come back into his senses, he tore his lips away from her. She almost protested, almost.

Her lips were swollen, her breathing was labored and her eyes felt too huge for her face. She didn't know what had got into her, shame flushed her features.

"This won't do." He said in a husky voice. His eyes were a few shades darker than usual and she had to look away from those eyes. "I'll have to look for another place for you."

He turned away from her and left. The room became frighteningly silent, and soon after she heard the sound of a door being open and then slammed shut. She was left alone once again.


	8. Chapter 8

She watched them through the upstairs window. The glass was dirty and full of bubbles, but she could distinguish the people below all right. A few of them she knew by name and sight, but the vast majority were complete strangers to her.

The house she had been sent to spend the night was located near the city gates, so she had a privileged vista of the ongoing preparations. Her eyes told her what her heart didn't want to acknowledge. War was imminent; the city had woken up with the fierce call to arms. On that fateful morning, The Enchanted Forest was preparing to battle against the Kingdom's forces and she had an ominous feeling deep in her gut about it all.

She watched in dread at the warriors in the yard, they were far more than she could ever have imagined. In that multitude Outlaws mingled with some of the Kingdom's own to repudiate the advancing menace of The King and his warriors.

From above she could see them all, but her eyes were set on the members of The Council. The High Six, as some liked to called them summed only five in that misty morning, and apparently they were to lead the hundredths behind. They stood up front, holding a quick palaver as the deafening crowd buzzed behind them. They were all clad and armed for battle.

The Apprentice stood in the middle of them all; giving what could be his final words to the rest of the Council. Hook, with a blade in hand and his never absent grin listened in silence. Charming lurked around them, but he didn't seem to be listening. His eyes were fixed somewhere outside the city gates and a determined expression reigned over his features. There was also Ruby, with a wild grin on her face that matched Hook's.

Regina couldn't help but to believe that it was madness to allow a woman to take active part in a war, but these Outlaws were not known to have any senses, as Ruby was not the only woman down there.

So from her safe place inside the old woman's house she studied them all, but her eyes kept returning to the blue eyed man stretching beside Hook.

She observed him from afar, still confused about the events of last night. He had kissed her fervently and she had responded with a passion she didn't knew she had in her, and just when her knees were weak and her body trembled from need he had left, storming out of the room as if the devil himself gave him pursuit.

It bothered her that even after a full night of restless sleep she could still feel the phantom of his lips against hers…

And it bothered her that the same man that had awoken those raw feelings in her now prepared to battle her own people.

She pressed her forehead against the cold glass, wondering. If he hadn't stopped when he did, would she had succumbed to him?

During the night she had convinced herself that it wouldn't be the case, that she had more sense than that. But now that she saw him once more, standing down there with his bow nearby and in all his glory she was not so sure.

It was all a new feeling to her, but if she was sure of anything it was that she only needed to close her eyes to feel him in that moment so she didn't even dare imagine what would have happened if he hadn't pulled away.

But it wasn't as it mattered anyway; thankfully he did pull away because to him she was just a nuisance to be kept from afar.

Not that she cared… kissing him had been just a lapse of judgment so she forced her eyes away.

When the horn was blown and the gate was opened, the great multitude marched outside with their swords and bows and their spears, their horses' hoofbeats thundering through the entire city and beyond. She wondered how many of those warriors would return to the city.

She watched them leave with a heavy heart until the last one of them went out. And when the gate finally closed she felt like crying.

For a long while she stood there, looking through the window to the now empty yard. Her mind was in deep turmoil, she worried about her people, about Graham and her father and whatever fate would befall on them all.

But her mind also dwelled on that previous night, on what could have been but wasn't between herself and Robin. She wanted to keep those thoughts out of her mind, to lock them away. But they keep coming back to torment her. She wanted to hate him for messing her mind.

She was taken out of her troubled thoughts when she heard steps approaching from behind. She turned, expecting to see one of the old women, but that was not the case.

"And so we meet again…" The black haired woman said as she made her way into the room and sat on the bed, looking intently at her with her warm green eyes.

Regina observed her in silence, not sure on what to say. She had only seen the woman once, back in her previous life. But even thought she didn't know the woman she felt as if their lives were bound by the mockery of a cruel destiny.

Out of her confinements the Outlaw looked smaller and skinnier, as if she had shrunk over the past fortnight. Her skin was pale, almost translucent and fading bruises covered her neck and arms. Her feeble appearance didn't stop her from holding her head proudly as she looked at Regina.

"You look different" The woman said taking in her appearances.

_You do too_, Regina was about to say but decided not to. It would be rude after all the woman had allegedly gone through.

"Can I ask you a question?" Snow asked and Regina nodded. "Is it true that you tried to intercede in my favor back at the castle, to get me out of the dungeon?"

Regina considered for a moment. "I talked someone about it." Sure, not her father but to Graham. "How do you know?"

"Believe it or not we have a few _acquaintances_ in the castle…" Snow stood from the bed. "Would you walk with me?" She asked but didn't wait for a reply, she headed out the door.

Regina hesitated, but followed the woman anyway. They went down the stairs and out the house, and once they were outside they walked side by side.

"When they put me into that dungeon, I thought that was the worst thing they could do to me. I hoped and prayed the guys would find a way out for me soon enough… but my wait was long and cruel. That first night was bad, but it only got worse by the second…"

"I'm really sorry about that." Regina said as Snow took in a deep breath, her gaze lost in the distance. She still remembered walking out of that dungeon and leaving the woman behind.

Snow smiled a sad smile. "The thing is that I want you to understand why this came to be, because although this war was not provoked by us, we are by all means going to end it, and if we have to take your father down we will not hesitate."

At that, Regina stopped walking and Snow turned to her. "Listen, I know you have good reason to carry on with this war, and it really pains my heart to know all what's been done in the name of the Kingdom. But don't expect me to be content with the possible downfall of my kin. I know my father's heart and I know that he's not a bad man, he's just being counseled badly."

And he really wasn't, she knew the idea of it all came from somewhere else…

"Look around you Regina." Snow hissed, pointing at the pavilions where some of her people crowded by the dozens, the rest had gone to fight their King. "He did this to his own people, to your people... does love makes you so blind? Look at what he let them do to me."

"Why are you telling me all this?" The Princess asked coldly.

"Because you need to see the reality of the situation, whether you like it or not your father's actions lead us all to this particular moment, not the other way around. His heart and the ones of those around him are corrupted by power, but yours is still kind. We may need your help at the end of the day and I want you to think about it."

Regina remained in silence, not sure on what Snow was saying or wanted her to think.

"Anyhow, go and see if you can do something for these people, after all you are their princess." Snow pointed at the pavilions and allowed her words linger around. "Now if you excuse me I have loads of things to do."

With that Snow walked away and left her standing there.

Blinking slowly, Regina looked around, not sure on what to do. What could she do to help them? As she saw it nothing at all, her hands where tied when it came to them. She made her way to one of the pavilions anyway, the one where the wounded were being tended.

"Hey you, don't just stand there; hold this."

Regina's eyes grew wide when a redhead with untamed curly hair that was tending a screeching man put in her hands a bloodied rag. She wanted to throw it right away, but she held the damp cloth with a grimace of disgust.

"Come on now!" The woman, who looked beyond angry pushed the man hard into the table he was laying and trashing into. There was an ugly gash in his forehead and the woman was trying to stitch it.

"What happened to him?" Regina ventured to ask. The woman shot her an icy stare.

"This good for nothing fell off his horse before even reaching the gate; I should have left him bleed to death right there. Now I'll miss all the action. Give me a clean cloth." She snapped in a heavy accent Regina couldn't quite place and she had no choice but to oblige. As she looked around for the cloth she could hear the man whining.

There were a lot of wounded people there and only a handful of locals tending them. Most of the wounded were those exiled from their lands and as the day went by Regina found herself helping along. Any thoughts of war and kisses were out of her mind for once.

It was not after the sun was high in the sky that the wounded warriors started to arrive. She was unsure if helping along was the best thing to do, after all they had been wounded fighting against the Kingdom. But there were stabs to stitch, broken bones to splint and countless arrows to pull out and almost no one to do it.

So she put on an apron and began her work. It was all a bloody mess and it occupied her mind from all matters.

With all the madness going around, the hours passed quick enough for her. She had pulled her hair up in a messy bun to keep it out of her eyes, the apron she had put on was covered with strangers' blood and she was exhausted beyond imagination. Just after stitching a young warrior's wound she decided to take a rest.

That was when the first of the High Six arrived. It was Hook, and he had been hit with an arrow right at his side. He was being helped along by no other that Emma, the blonde from the outcast's town.

She didn't want to help than man, so she tried to move out of their way, but before she could even take two steps out of the pavilion the blonde spotted her and called her out.

"Now this is something I never expected to witness. Wow."" The woman said with a smile as the man beside her grunted in pain. She let him slip in one of the tables and before the black haired could react to it she pulled the arrow out of his flesh, the smile never faded from her lips.

The man yelped, his face red and strained in discomfort. When he was able to ease his breathing, the crazed man grinned awkwardly and looked at Regina. "She loves me."

Emma fixed him with a glare and rolled her eyes. "You wish tiger. So how you've been doing?"

Not knowing what to say, Regina looked at the bold woman. "I…"

"I know, these are crazy times, uh." Emma shrugged wiping her bloody hand against Hook's pants. "Do you happen to know where I can find some bandages for this one before he bleeds to death and the whole country blame it on me?"

"Marry me, Swan." The Council member grumbled.

"Shut up." Emma said as she poured ethanol into a cloth and pressed the thing against the man's wound. He let out another yell and cursed loudly.

Regina watched the exchange feeling a little lost and she only moved into action when a warrior with a broken leg was rushed to her.

And so day turned into dusk and Regina couldn't count how many people she had tended during that endless day, all she knew was that she was tired and couldn't stand on her tired feet anymore.

That was how she ended up sitting on the dirt, her back resting against one of the pavilion's pillars.

The scent of blood and ethanol was strong on her and she wondered if they would ever fade away. Not long after the thought crossed her mind, Emma found her and sat with her.

"What a day." The blonde commented as she handed her a plate with something to eat.

Regina refused; she couldn't stomach food, at least not at the moment. Emma began eating hers without any kind of problem and when she was done she ate Regina's as well.

"Where you out there?" Regina asked, glad that her voice didn't tremble.

At the question, Emma hummed an affirmation.

"So how was it going?"

Looking at her, Emma sighed deeply. "If you think it looks ugly on this side, it's because you haven't seen the other one. Sorry."

Regina nodded but said nothing. She could feel her eyes tingling but she was determined not to cry so she just blinked the feeling away.

She didn't dare ask anymore questions and after a while Emma left, saying she needed to check on Hook.

When the blonde was gone, Regina considered resting on one of the cots and getting some sleep, it wasn't as if she had any other place to go, but as she thought about it she heard a commotion outside the gate. The ones that could stand up rushed over there to see what was all about. As for herself, she was too scared to move.

_What if they have him?_

When the gate opened a great number of warriors entered, they were received by cheers and whistles from their wounded companions. She stood up from where she sat and walked with trembling legs a little closer, just enough to take a peek.

She saw Charming ahorse, a wild look on his face as he dragged a bounded man along. Her breath caught in her throat and she hurried up front, pushing her way through the multitude.

Only when she saw him up close she was able to breathe again, it was not her father. The man has been beaten almost beyond recognition but she had seen enough of him to know it was Frankenstein, one of her betrothed's most trusted men.

Blowing out a breath, she kept looking, and when her eyes casually rested on the form of another man, one she has seen almost every day of her life she ran to him without thinking it twice.

She barely noticed that he wasn't bounded and when she reached him she threw herself at him, her arms circling his neck as he lifted her off the ground and returned the embrace.

"Regina."

Swallowing down a sob at the sound of his voice, the only familiar voice she has heard in a while, she clung hard to him.

"Are you alright?" He asked after several seconds. Then as he put her on the ground, she touched his face and arms as if to check if he was hurt.

"I am, but… how about you?" She mumbled when she confirmed that he was unhurt. It was also then that she noticed that he wasn't being held prisoner.

He was walking with The Outlaws on his own accord.

"Graham?"

As a response, he kissed her forehead. "We'll talk later."

Confused, she blinked a couple of times and as she watched him walk away, her eyes happened to fall over yet another familiar face.

Robin's. He walked on foot, his horse probably lost during the battle. He had an open wound just above his left eye but other than that he seemed just fine.

He saw her, she knew because their eyes met, but his quickly moved away and she could see how his jaw tensed.

But even though, she let out a sigh of relief she didn't knew was holding. But that was short lived as she saw he was dragging something of his own. He had a prisoner as well, a hooded one that was bounded by the wrists. He was leading the captive almost tentatively, blind and stumbling.

Gasping and covering her mouth with her hands, she stood there as if frozen. She didn't have to see a face to know who that was anyway, after all she had spent _all_ her life with _her_…


	9. Chapter 9

Regina was on the verge of indulging to sorrow and giving way to the pangs of despair. The wait was excruciating and she didn't think she could take more of it.

She had lost the notion of time, so she wasn't sure how long she had been sitting there, but by now full dark was upon the city and a red full moon watched upon her.

The whole situation felt surreal, like a bad dream she couldn't wake up from.

Rumor had it that The Council had killed Frankenstein, a man that she had never been fond of, but nonetheless a man she has known from her life before being taken away.

Now she didn't know if that was true. After all she has seen with her own eyes that they had marched said man, beaten, but very much alive through the whole city and that they killed him didn't make sense.

_But what if they did, what if they do the same to _ _her_ _?_

_No, it must not come to that_.

She took a deep breath and blinked away a few tears that threatened to fall. Fear had caught her in its jaws but she couldn't let madness engulf her. She needed her mind to be clear.

She braced herself, searching what little comfort she could manage in that wrecked situation.

She was sitting on the steps to the Council's building, tormenting herself with anguish and keeping her long vigil when a noise startled her, it had come from inside. She stood up and steadied herself as best as she could, the bloodied apron was still hanging loose at her front and she was covered in filth head to toe; but still she stood as proudly as her misery would allow her.

Behind her, she could hear the city moving along. The agonizing moans of the wounded and the cheerful celebration of the fortunate ones, but those noises felt as if in a thousand leagues away, to Regina the only sounds that mattered were the ones coming from inside the building in front of her.

When the door began to open at last and the first one of them walked out she found herself frozen where she stood.

It was Snow, followed closely by Charming. Word through the city claimed he had dragged Frankenstein all the way from the battlefield to the city just to kill him in front of his beloved. It sounded ridiculous at first, but people claimed that because Frankenstein was apparently the one who abducted Snow in the first place and made her confinement in the dungeon a living nightmare, she wondered if it was true.

The mere thought made her shiver.

"I hope you had the time to think about what I told you, might be you have to make a decision very soon." Snow said as they passed her by, Charming just took a quick glimpse at her and moved on.

Regina hadn't thought about what Snow told her. Truth be told she wasn't so sure what she had to think about…

She watched them leave, chastising herself for not uttering a word. At some point, when their silhouettes were far in the distant she saw the raven haired reaching for Charming's hand. He took it and together they disappeared into the night.

She let out a sigh and turned again to the building. There was not going to be rest for her until they allowed her inside. She waited for the others to come out, someone must hear her plead.

But the next ones to come out were Robin and Zelena and her confidence went down. He had been the one to bring her in and the redhead wasn't even a member of the council; she could not put her hopes on any of them.

He walked out of the building with a clean bandage covering the wound on his temple and a tired look on his face. His eyes fixed on her as soon as he walked out.

"And what the hell happened to you?" Zelena asked with her usual sly grin. Like always, she looked impeccable, carrying herself with a great air of confidence as if she were the Queen of The Enchanted Forest and not a simple lackey.

That was something Regina couldn't say of herself. Royal blood ran through her veins and yet she stood there looking nothing like it. Her clothes were bloodied, the apron more so; her hair was a mess and she could bet her face was smeared with dirt and other unsavory things.

But that was the last thing on her mind; she couldn't look worse than how she felt. "I want to see her." She managed to said without breaking down.

"Let her in." Robin said in a low raspy voice as he walked away.

She heard him all right, but the odd thing was that she couldn't manage to move her feet. She hadn't expected it to be so easy. What if she was already dead and she would only find her corpse inside that place?

"You are not thinking on letting her enter looking like that." Zelena said quirking her mouth in disgust. "What would that say about us, that we do not keep her decent?"

"I just want to see her, don't mind my appearance." Her voice carried a desperate edge, but she was beyond caring.

Robin turned back to them and studied her in silence, his intense blue eyes roaming over her frame as an unreadable stoic mask took over his features. It made her feel uncomfortable.

"No, better if she is seen like this." He took another glance at her and then reached to take the apron off. "Minus this bloody thing…" he threw the offensive rag over to Zelena before going ahead and brushing behind her ear a rebel strand of hair that escaped the messy bun on top of her head, then he walked back inside.

"Urgh!" The taller woman grunted rolling her eyes. "There's not much one can do to improve your looks anyways." She threw the apron to the ground. "Well you heard him, make haste."

After saying that, Zelena turned and headed the same direction Snow and Charming had gone not long ago, mumbling under her breath as she walked away from the building she was about to enter.

Regina was reluctant to go in, thinking that maybe she was being lead into something she wasn't quite ready to face. But she wanted to see her, she needed to. So toughening up, she walked in.

The main salon was bright as day, lit over by an immense chandelier hanging high in the ceiling. She hadn't notice that before, but then again she had spent her time in that building locked up. She wondered if she was locked up somewhere inside.

But before she could muse about that, she saw the silhouette of a person walk towards her and when she shifted her attention to see who it was, her jaw tensed and she felt her hands clutch into fist.

If she has ran to him before to hug him, she now wanted to do the same but just to hit him instead. "How could you?"

Because yes, as she waited outside she had a lot of time to think about Graham and as she saw it, the fact that he came with the Outlaws a free man could only mean one thing.

"After everything we did for you?" Her father has taken him when no one else would, he took him under his wing and even gave him an important role in the castle.

"And what was that Regina?" The man that she has seen as brother said sadly. "I was torn from my own family and home as a child and all for what? To be your father's errand boy? To be whipped on your mother's every whim?"

She didn't reply to that, she just wiped her eyes dry and snorted in disbelief. "Did you plan all this? Taking Snow just so you could push for all of this to happen? Did you let them take me?"

He shook his head no and even made as if he was going to reach for her, but the icy-cold glare she was sending him probably made him back off.

"I had nothing to do with this."

"He's right, I'm afraid we'll have to take full credit for that last one."

Her head moved to the new voice and she saw him. Robin was there, resting his back against the closed door of the room she had been taken upon when she first came in. His arms were folded against his chest as he waited.

"Now I'll apologize for cutting this little reunion short but we do need to make haste."

Graham nodded, and then after sending an apologetic look her way he walked out.

"Well that went sour fast. First you are all over each other and now you look pretty mad at him. Such a shame." His voice came out almost mockingly, but she could detect something deeper lurking in the air.

Lifting her chin and blinking her unshed tears away, she faced him. She didn't have the desire nor the time to play on his games so she focused on what she came to do.

"Where is she?"

"Right this way."

His eyes were on her as she walked up to him and she couldn't help but to feel as if she was walking right into the lion's den.

"You will only be allowed to see her for a short time, so make the best out of it. Might be the last time you two see each other." He stated coldly.

Regina held her head high, hating the man's cruelty more than ever. She found it bitter that not a night ago, those same lips that now hurt her with words had reduced her to nothing more than a trembling fool. "Then let me in." She responded matching his tone.

He opened the door behind him and moved aside to let her pass.

Regina went in and her eyes found her at once. She was sitting, thing that somehow was a relief for her. But she was bounded, hands behind her back, bounded around her ankles and what really worried her, a rope around her neck.

She couldn't see her face because she was facing the people in front of her and she was far behind.

She didn't lose time walking; she ran to her and knelt in front of her, dimly aware that they weren't alone in the room.

"Mother." She said taking a good look at her. She looked unhurt, but she wasn't looking her regular self. She was far from the always kept together woman. No, her dress was ripped in places down the skirt, her hair was in disarray and she looked older, way older than what she remembered.

Her eyes were also unfocused and she didn't seem to recognize her at first. She sucked in a shaky breath, trying to force herself not to cry. But it was futile, she could feel her vision clouding with unwashed tears and she had to wipe her eyes before they could fall.

"Regina…" Cora breathed in, her voice broken and distant. But then, as if disgusted she curled her lips and looked down on her. "Get on your feet. You know better than to be kneeling in front of this Savages."

Swallowing on dry but not really surprised at her mother's words, she did something she hasn't done since she was a kid and rested her head on her mother's lap.

"What have they done to you?" Cora said and for a moment Regina thought she heard real concern in her voice. "You look worse than them. Look at your hair and those clothes… oh Regina."

"I'm fine." She rolled her eyes despite herself. She did however pull away from her so she could look at her face.

"Of course you are not, we didn't spend years of grooming you into becoming a Queen just so you could end up here and looking so…" She took a deep breath as she looked her over through hard eyes; but before she could go on she was interrupted by The Apprentice's monotonous voice.

"Very well, now that you've seen she's unharmed, may we continue and get this done with?"

Cora shook her head absently, her eyes never leaving her daughter. "I'll never sign that. I rather die before-"

The older woman's head was yanked back before she could finish her sentence. She didn't even gasp but Regina immediately got to her feet, anger written all over her face.

True, Cora has never been much affectionate and was more concerned with making out of her the Queen she has always dreamed of above everything and everyone, but she was still her mother.

"Don't tempt me old woman." A mocking voice said and when Regina looked over she saw that Ruby has been the one to punish her mother. She was suppressing a triumphant smile as she held the end of the rope that tied around her neck, ready to pull hard again.

Regina glared hatefully at the dark haired woman and as she looked over she noticed Robin resting against the closed door, almost in the same manner he had been earlier. He was just watching the scene in front of him unfold.

"Sign, don't sign… it makes no difference. We may as well kill you right now and carry on with it anyways. The only signatures we need is that of your husband and of course, the Princess."

Regina turned a little so she could look at the man. He was sitting atop the table, still in his battle gears as were the rest of his fellow Outlaws.

"But imagine the sorrow that will cause your daughter, to lose her own mother right in front of her eyes." Ruby said pulling at the rope, making Cora's head jerk back awkwardly.

"Stop that!" Regina spat in anger and desperation.

"My husband will never agree to it. Not without my say on it." Cora responded in a strangled voice. "And neither will Regina."

"I think they will. You Lord husband doesn't have any other choice in the matter. His forces are scattered and defeated and we have both his wife and daughter in custody, he's cornered and without choice. As for Regina, she'll sign it because she loves you so much and her heart won't take seeing you dead."

"If I sign this thing, will my mother gets to live?" She asked, if it was to be so she'll sign anything they wanted.

"No, I'll rather die a thousand deaths than let you whore to any of these barbarians."

"Take her away." The Apprentice ordered and Ruby smirked. "We'll talk with the Princess now."

"Don't sign it." Cora said before they hooded her. Then, two men who had been silently in a corner took her out the room, leaving Regina watching helpless as she sat on the floor. She knew she should keep standing, but she didn't have the willpower to do it.

The Apprentice came forward and crouched at her side. "Do you love your mother?" His tone was low so that only she could hear the words. She nodded, chewing at her lower trembling lip.

He was holding some papers in his hands and he showed them to her. "Snow spent all day long redacting this, and what she came up with is the only chance your mother has of walking out this mess alive." He let her savor the words before continuing. "It will guarantee her a safe journey back to the castle, where she along with your father could rule _half_ the Kingdom. It's more than what they deserve…"

"I'll sign them." She said determined.

"That's not all. The other half of the Kingdom, the one that they won't be able to rule will pass on to The Enchanted Forest, and as soon as this document is signed properly, we will even let you represent that half. But, if either one of your patents ever gives us reason to, we will be in all our rights to claim the rest of the Kingdom. If that ever happens they will be removed permanently."

His tone was still low and Regina found herself leaning closer to listen better.

"So basically, the only thing you have to do is wed one of our own, bear him a couple of children and let us guide you through your _reign_. We also request the Kingdom to severe all ties with The King that carried this war to happen. Now I understand the man was to be your husband so I hope that's not going to be a problem in our treaty. So what do you say Princess, is the love you have for your mother strong enough?"

Regina took a deep breath. She could feel her heart beating irregularly in her chest. Just marrying for her mother's life… it would be no big deal, right? She had already made the idea in her head that she would marry Leopold one day and that had been her mother's choice, not hers. It was the same right now, but with a cause.

"Where do I sign?"

The Apprentice gave her the papers and a pen, he showed her where to sign and she did, trying not to think too much of it.

"Great, now we only need the King's…" He scribbled his name somewhere along hers and passed the document to Ruby so she could sign too. "And the rest of the Council's. But we'll have to carry on without his for now, by the time this reaches him you'll already be wed."

Regina tried to keep her mind blank. "I'll make sure Hook signs; let's see, Snow and Charming already did… oh! We are missing one, a very important one. Robin" The old man called out.

Regina looked up as Ruby walked to him and handed him the papers. He remained still for a while, his arms still folded up his chest as he fixed The Apprentice with a glance. "Come on, we already discussed this a dozen times." She hissed as she nudged at his arm. "You said it was all right."

He snatched the papers with a grunt and signed almost angrily. When he was done he walked out the door.

"So it is as good as done, how do you fancy marrying on the morrow?" Ruby asked with a smile and Regina wondered if she had done the right thing.


	10. Chapter 10

Regina reached blindly for the flagon of wine that rested over the small sideboard at her side. Her clumsy fingers, not knowing their way around stumbled with the empty silver goblet that has been right beside the container and knocked it down.

Lazily, she moved her gaze to it, half expecting to see it rolling off to the floor.

It didn't.

For a long time she remained motionless, transfixed by the sight of it. A _single cup for them to share._ She wondered who had put it there in the first place and then decided that wondering about it was trivial, it just didn't matter.

She took hold of it and neared it to her face to inspect it closer. It was a beautifully polished silver piece that sparkled wildly if the moonlight sneaking through the curtains reflected right on it. She lifted it the slightest bit and flickered it around, trying to make it shine once more. She couldn't find the right spot that would do the trick, so a bit disappointed she decided it was time for another refill.

As she was filling the goblet she ventured to lift her eyes to get a glimpse at her reflection through the tall silvered looking glass in front of her.

She could barely recognize the woman staring back at her and she leaned forward to take a better look. They had dressed her in a pearl-white silk gown, the fabric so smooth that it could slip through her fingers like water if she cared enough to touch it again. It hugged her frame as a second skin and it only made her feel overexposed. Golden bracelets were slid around her wrist and more exquisite jewels adorned her earlobes and fingers. They had even anointed her with exotic perfumes and applied a bit of color to her eyelids and lips.

_Stunning_, Hook had repeated to her numerous times back at the brief ceremony that had taken place way before the sun went down. She chuckled bitterly at the memory of it all and had to cover her mouth so the sound of it wouldn't break the silence in the room.

She waited, straining her ear to catch any sound other than the beating of her own heart. Nothing moved and no one came and the reigning silence continued disrupted. She let her hand drop back to her lap to join the other one in the cradling of the goblet and she continued to scrutinize her appearance.

Her eyes casted a dull sparkle everywhere she looked and her cheeks had gained a healthy blush thanks to the wine she had taken. The Regina looking back at her was just as unfamiliar as the new country she was now forced to live. She was no longer Regina the Princess, soon to be Queen, but Regina the prisoner, the wife. It scared her.

Exhaling forcibly she began to remove and toss aside one by one all the rings and bracelets they had put on her.

She failed to see their point of dressing her up in fancy silks for a bogus wedding that was to be attended solely by the members of the Council. Why didn't they wed her in her borrowed leathers and be done with the whole thing? She had said so to Emma as the blonde helped with her preparations, but the woman had just laughed and said that it wasn't for the wedding they were preparing her, but for the wedding night, where hopefully her Lord husband would get her with child.

That was when nerves had started to gnaw at her bones.

She drained half the cup in three long swallows, enjoying the sweetness of the fine liquid as it invaded all her senses.

"Go easy with that, or it will all go to your head."

Regina startled and almost spilled the rest of the wine all over her dress when the low masculine voice came from somewhere behind her. She looked up and through the looking glass she saw him approaching.

Whether it was the effect of the liquor running through her veins or he himself she was not sure; but time seemed to have slowed down to a crawl as he made his way to her.

In her dull stupor she just remained sitting there, looking a complete fool until he got to her side. And only when he stood beside her she made her eyes look up at him.

All the intensity of his blue eyes was focused entirely on her and she felt a shiver run through her body that didn't have anything to do with the soft breeze that entered through the window.

"How much of this have you swallowed?" He asked her as he reached down to take the goblet off her hand.

She shrugged, missing already the feel of the cool object in her hands. "A couple." Could be that it was more than that, but not near enough to drown herself into oblivion.

When the so called wedding ended, she had been lead to his chamber to be left alone with her fears. A long time passed by without him showing up to claim his right as her husband and she half hoped that maybe he was not going to show up at all. After all he seemed to be as eager as she was with all this nonsense.

The other part of her has been slightly disappointed. But now he was here and her destiny was sealed.

She watched him in silence as he neared the cup to his lips, took a swallow and savored the wine. "A couple too many if you ask me." He mumbled before drinking the rest of it. When he was done he put the goblet down on the sideboard and went back to staring at her.

Regina was very much aware of his imposing presence and the way he loomed over her. Her senses were on edge and she couldn't help but to feel slightly antsy under his stare. She wished for one last cup to help her carry on through the night, but she knew her time was up and now she had to do whatever needed to be done to keep her mother alive.

So, taking a deep breath she attempted to stand up and be done with it already, the sooner the better. But when she got up the floor moved underneath her bare feet and she tried to sit back again and wait for the feeling to wash over her.

But it wasn't to be so. He circled her waist with his arm and held her steady against him. She knew in that moment that a couple of cups were indeed too many.

She closed her eyes and waited for the spinning room to settle back to normalcy while her forehead rested against his shoulder. She was holding herself by grabbing him to him, but she was pretty much sure that even if she let go of him she wouldn't lose her balance. His grip on her was strong and firm.

"You are drunk." He observed and said so in a low whisper, his hand burning her skin through the thin fabric of her dress.

"I am not." She shook her head in denial, her lips brushing gently against his shirt as his scent invaded her nose. He smelled good, too good she would say. But no, she was not drunk, just slightly giddy and his closeness was not helping solve the matter.

_But if I hadn't drank so much maybe I could have been able to draw away from him._ She thought to herself and bit hard on her lower lip to suppress a light chuckle.

His free hand went up to bury itself into her hair and he gently forced her head back so he could look at her face.

"Well, you are sure fooling me." His voice carried an amused tone and she forced her eyes to open just to see if his eyes held the same amusement.

They certainly did. She found herself entranced with his sparkling blue depths and the argument she was going to utter got caught in her throat, she swallowed it down.

With great effort she managed to disentangle herself from his arms and take a few steps back. "I…" she closed her eyes briefly and ran a hand through her hair in a nervous attempt to calm her trembling hands, but her limbs felt heavy as stones and their movements were slow and clumsy. She hoped he hadn't noticed.

"Do you want me to take my clothes now or do you want to do it yourself?" She opened her eyes only to see his face change drastically.

For several seconds he stood there, staring at her with his now unreadable eyes. His mouth had set into a thin angry line and she found it suddenly hard to breathe.

She dropped her eyes to the floor so she wouldn't have to look at him. Not knowing what to make of his silence she reached back to the fastening of her dress to unzip it and be done with it. Her fingers trembled as she began fumbling with the fastening; it seemed she had ten thumbs instead of fingers, because for the life of her she couldn't make them work together.

She managed to unfasten the zip and the only thing that prevented it from sliding in a puddle down at her feet was her hand holding it still. She was unsure of taking the hand away.

He walked up to her and reached for the back of her dress. Her eyes were still glued to the floor so she felt him rather than saw him. His fingers brushed the newly exposed flesh of her back, but instead of pushing the dress off her body he zipped it back midway.

"I don't tend to take drunken women." His voice was a low caress on her skin and she had to look up to see his stern looking face. The soft light of a candle nearby picked out shadows on his skin, the chiaroscuro of black and pale dancing along his handsome features. She stared at him as he stared back at her.

"I told you I'm not drunk." She was not sure why hadn't she taken the opportunity to escape her fate if only for a night and retreat back. Could be that maybe she was indeed drunk, because next thing she did was take his hands off and let the dress slip off.

She stepped out of the dress and fixed her gaze on the discarded gown. She now stood before him only in her lower underwear and suddenly she found herself too shy to look at him. Emma had sworn that undressing for him and revealing her almost naked body would drive him mad with lust, but she wasn't so sure if Emma knew what she was talking about because he hadn't made any attempt to touch her, let alone take her to bed and have his way with her.

Goose prickles covered her exposed flesh, which was to say all her body, as she waited. Her heart was beating frantically in her chest and she had to force her arms to hang limp at her sides. When nothing happened and her body trembled slightly from the cold she ventured to look at him.

She found him staring. His eyes had turned almost black in the darkness of the room as he drank on her nakedness. She clenched her hands into fist, wanting nothing more than to put the dress back on and escape his wandering eyes, escape the room and run back to the safety of the castle.

But she knew well enough that going back to the castle was never going to happen, so she needed to learn how to live this new life of hers.

The silence that reigned the room was unbearable and she wished for something to happen, anything just to end it. She wanted to say something, but couldn't find anything appropriate.

"You don't want me." She stated in a broken whisper and as soon as the words were out of her lips his eyes returned to hers. She held his gaze as he closed the distant between them both.

When he was close enough for their bodies to touch he slid a hand to her lower back and pulled her even closer. With his other hand, he ran a finger down her side until it rested at her hip, she shivered under his touch.

"I don't… not like this." He whispered. "I'll tell them I took you, so you don't have to worry about any harm coming to your mother because of this. Believe it or not I'm not quite the savage."

Regina breathed out, part of her mind telling her to act fast and dress before he changed his mind. And he was in all his right to, as her husband he had the right to claim her body and even if it scared her to death, she was ready.

Leopold wouldn't have given her a way out, of that she was sure.

"It's alright, I don't mind." She said, lifting her chin to look up at him.

"Well I do mind. You are drunk and basically forced into this and that's… not something I want."

Now this was something she hadn't expect, her new husband to reject her and she felt lost. She didn't know what to do.

She was inexperienced when it came to this so she guessed the only thing to do was gather her dress and leave with what little dignity she had left.

But then, as if driven by an impulse she grabbed the hand of his that was to her hip and dragged it up her ribcage and to the swell of her breast.

"Regina." He warned her but before he could go on she interrupted him.

"It's alright… you can touch me." And he would have to do it, sooner or later so why not that night? As she saw it, it was as good as any other moment and quite honestly, she was as terrified as she was eager.

This Outlaw, whether she liked it or not was someone who woke up in her things she has never thought possible to feel when she thought about the King and maybe she wanted to feel the same she felt when he first kissed her.

Maybe it was that she was indeed drunk, she wasn't sure, all she knew was that if she didn't get on with this right then, she would never gather the courage again.

Now, the contact made her tremble and when the palm of his hand closed around her flesh to weight her in and smooth the already hard peak of her nipple with his thumb, she had to bite hard on her tongue.

It was definitely a new experience and apparently, something that worked for him because next thing she knew he was leaning down towards her.

She shut her eyes tightly when his lips found their way to the sensitive flesh of her neck. He kissed her lightly up to her ear, leaving a trail of fire burning within her.

She sighed when he dragged his lips up, extending the trail along her jaw and then down again to her neck. All the while his restless fingers explored the newly discovered territory of her exposed skin. Running slowly along her back and her sides, and all she could do not to melt was hold tight onto him.

She wrapped her fingers to the back of his neck and tried to move his head up so that he would finally kiss her lips. For better or for worse she wanted to find out if they would be as soft and inviting as she remembered.

He complied to her silent plead and captured her mouth with his.

She was pleased to find them as good, if not more than what she remembered; maybe the fact that she was as good as naked in his arms increased the experience tenfold. She parted her lips for him, granting him unlimited access to deepen the kiss.

And deepen the kiss he did. He plunged into her without hesitation, his tongue tangling with hers in a passionate duel. There was nothing to hold them back this time, and she was surprised to find out that the thought did not scare her as it had done earlier.

He tasted sweet like wine, and she was getting drunk on him. The kiss quickly progressed into a festival of raw desire.

He slid a hand down to her still clothed bottom and pulled her against him so she could feel his arousal. Her knees went weak as a dull, pleasant ache flared up and centered itself somewhere between her legs.

Out of breath, she pulled away from the kiss when she felt his hand creep between their bodies to trail down to her stomach, his fingers smoothing over her soft flesh. But he recaptured her lips and kept on with the gentle strokes.

Lazily, his fingers slid even lower, down until they dipped to her aching center. She gasped into his mouth, both in surprise and pleasure as his hand curved around her. He squeezed her gently through the damp fabric of her underwear, reducing her to nothing but a trembling mass of need.

This time he was the one to pull from the kiss and she had to rest her forehead against his chest to prevent herself from falling. Her breath had become shallower as he continued his assault on the most intimate part of her being. All of it felt surreal, his finger slipping under her underwear, parting her slick center to rub lavishly over her nub, to circle at her entrance.

His intimate caress was tantalizing, and she had to bite down a moan as a lone lean finger slipped slowly inside her, probing deep into her wetness. She had never imagined such exquisite pleasure was even possible. By now he could do whatever he pleased with her and she would have no choice but to oblige.

After torturing her with his sweet ministrations for a glorious short time, he slid his finger out of her swollen heated center and moved both his hands to her rear, pushing down the offending underwear until it slid off her body, leaving completely naked. He kissed her again while he walked her back into the room.

When the back of her knees collided with the edge of the bed he pushed her gently into it. She climbed on it, very conscious of his stare as she lay down. She closed her eyes, listening to the rustle of clothes as he undressed himself.

Gods help her but she wanted him, the intensity of her need scared her a bit but even though she wanted it she couldn't help but dread what was coming next.

The mattress sunk under his weight as he climbed onto the bed with her, she forced her eyes to open. He had positioned himself on top of her without crushing her and with his knees he himself pushed her legs apart so he could place himself between them.

"You know we don't have to." He said, the low timbre of his voice making her swallow on dry. He was giving her one last chance, one that she should take.

"It's alright." She said.

She was trembling and as his body rested against hers he kissed her once more. The union of his lips to hers was gentler than the previous ones, it didn't lack passion or need, but it was more laid back.

Her hands grabbed hard on the sheet as his erection rubbed at her entrance, waiting for a protest she didn't make. She shut her eyes and tensed as he began to enter her, filling her slowly, solidifying their union in flesh as well as they had done by paper.

"Look at me, Regina."

Feeling her face burning, she opened her eyes to find herself staring into the intensity of his blue stare.

It felt obscene, especially since he was halfway inside of her.

But she kept her eyes on him, taking on his darkened eyes, on how his face burned with the same desire that consumed her and how his tongue peeked between his parted lips.

It was as they looked at each other that he retreated from her and rubbed the crown of his erection to the small bundle of nerves near her entrance.

It felt good, she was as wet as she has never been before and he used her own juices to smooth the contact.

It made her feel as if she was burning inside out and her hips involuntarily bucked up.

He sucked in a breath before going back to kiss her, and then he went for it and accommodated himself back in, her inner walls tightening around him as she received him.

He went in slow, but even thought for a moment a sharp pain made her eyes water and she had to brake away from the kiss to bit hard at her trembling lips.

He remained still inside her, until her pain faded away and the only thing she could feel was his manhood throbbing deep within her.

She ventured to open her eyes only to find him looking at her in concern. The eyes of the _savage_ that had taken her away delving deep into hers, she was transfixed by him.

"Are you all right?" His voice was low on his throat.

She nodded, not trusting her own voice to speak coherently. He leaned forward and kissed her lips softly, then her temple and her eyelids. He began to move within her, slowly at first until the pressure inside her began to soar.

That night he prompted her to forget about her mother and the war that had divided her country, he made her forget about everything but the sensations he provoked in her. That night he made her his, an extension of his flesh.

That night as her body fused with his she ceased to be the person she once was to become a new one…

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

She woke up startled, dimly aware that there was someone knocking on her door. A thin line of sweat ran slowly dawn her spine and there was a yelp stuck at the back of her throat trying to force its way out.

She has been dreaming again that awful dream, the one she couldn't quite remember once her eyes were open but that left in her a sense of dread that would last all day long.

Now it might be that she could not remember, but she was pretty much sure it was always the same dream; it has been haunting her for a few consecutive nights now.

The knocking came again in a rampage and she could almost feel the door trembling with the force of the blows. Someone was in a rush to speak to her.

Swallowing down hard and waiting for her heartbeat to calm down to its normal rate, she ran a trembling hand along her forehead, unconsciously feeling with her fingertips for anything unusual.

For a brief moment she thought she was going to remember, but whatever recollection she had faded away when someone called for her insistently.

"Regina! Open the damn door right now!"

Rolling her eyes, the brunette grunted when she recognized the voice of the person who was about to break down her door if she didn't made haste. But she was still groggy from sleep and she had to fight her way out of the tangle of blankets that had her imprisoned before getting to her feet.

Once able to free herself, she climbed out of bed and on bare wobbly feet she walked to the entrance. As she made her way to the soon to be broken barrier, she looked around the room for a sign of his arrival. There were none, but it was not like she had expected any.

"I'm coming." She replied harshly and once she was to the door she opened it to find an extremely mad-looking Ruby.

She looked wild, almost feral.

"What now?" She asked in annoyance as she turned around. She didn't want to deal with a pissed off Ruby, it was too early for that and she hadn't even washed her face; she wanted to wash her face.

Meaning to do just that, she walked away from the visitor because if there was something Regina has come to know by now was that the young woman's mood soured every time she was left behind to tend The Enchanted Forest's needs from her seat in the Council.

The fiery girl claimed she would rather be out on the field than on a seat, but when reports of a disturbance in one of their villages came a week ago it was her turn to stay.

Snow stayed too. Robin, along with the rest of the Council and some of their more trusted warriors left, they were still yet to arrive.

"I want to speak to you." Ruby said through clenched teeth while following her into the room.

"So speak, I am listening." Regina eased herself into the washroom to rinse her face and mouth, hoping that the cool water would at least rush her out of sleepiness.

"Have you been plotting against us? If so I want you to tell me who had you been talking to and what exactly have you planned?"

Regina sighed tiredly. _Here we go again..._ "Sure, I've been having secret correspondence with the King himself-"

Ruby grabbed Regina's arm and forced her to turn around, her fingers digging into her flesh cruelly. "I'm being serious, Regina so don't be cheeky with me." She hissed, her eyes were ablaze with anger, they were even shooting daggers at her.

Knitting her brows, the black haired woman gasped and tried to yank her arm away from the grip. It was a futile attempt, the Outlaw was not going to yield.

"I don't know what you want me say. We've had this conversation before and every time you come here I tell you the same. I am not talking to anyone and I am not plotting anything."

Not that she could even of she wanted, because even though she was given free reign to wander the city as she pleased, the true was that she was never left on her own for too long.

Snorting, Ruby let go of her arm, but her fiery eyes still held her gaze. "Well someone is, and if it's not you then it is your mother."

"My mother?" She blew out a breath. "For crying out loud, she's in a cell and she has been there for a fortnight. How do you think she could be plotting against you if you don't let her out like you said you would? Maybe you are seeing shadows where there are none."

"Shadows? Ruby laughed a bitter laugh. "We were lead into an ambush. Someone from inside helped The King plan a surprise attack, one that left The Apprentice dead and others wounded so how is that for seeing shadows?"

Blinking several times as the words registered in her brain, Regina found herself aghast. It took her a while to react.

_The Apprentice dead… an ambush by The King… someone from inside… when was everything going to end?_

"What about Robin?" Regina hurried to ask. She didn't like the thought of him being hurt and much less dead. Just thinking about it constricted her throat and made her heart clench.

She has tried not to feel like this, to withstand the growing feelings that had been evolving in her for this past fortnight, but by then she already knew that fighting it was pointless.

Now, she was very well aware that their marriage was an arrangement, an association if you will and her mind emphasized on it every time she found herself waiting for the night to come; but it was hard to separate what her brain knew versus what her heart felt. Especially when he came to her every single night.

Because yes, even when his days were spent at the Council or at the field and even when she knew how wrong everything was, his nights belonged only to her.

Not that each one of those nights were spent like the first one, not at all. She still remembered that when he came to her that second night into their marriage with no apparent intention to touch her, she was a little disappointed. But he came with a deck of cards and the intention of teaching her a game that was apparently popular amongst Outlaws and that was how the spent the night.

It started a tad awkward, but by the end she felt comfortable enough.

By the third night they were back at giving into the tension that consumed them and that was how the essence of everything that he was managed to crawl into her skin in a way she still couldn't quite comprehend.

To that day she still couldn't understand how she has let herself be carried away with it, by him, but the fact was that even when she has meant only to give him her body, he has become owner and master of everything that she was.

The whole thing was unlike anything she imagined in her life and most definitely not how she envisioned the aftermatch of laying with a man being.

She didn't know if it was because she always thought she was going to marry Leopold and that has done nothing for her curiosity to pick up over the matter, but the thing was that Robin and the feeling of giving herself to him was something she couldn't describe with words.

He was capable of making time stand still with just a kiss, he dominated all her senses just with the way his eyes settled deep into hers and she just didn't know what to make with the overwhelming feelings he provoked other than to just letting sensation swept over her.

That she surrender herself to him was a never-ending circle.

That has been until he left. A week has gone by and there was not much that she could do but wait, because waiting was what she did best and by now it had become her specialty. She was used to it, but she hated it.

"Is he alright?"

"He's unharmed if that's what you ask." Ruby responded in a dry whisper and Regina found herself able to breathe again. "As of now he's at the Council interrogating your mother."

"He's here?" He was there and he hadn't come to see her. For some reason she didn't like that at all, but then her mind slapped her internally and went on to think about Cora. "And why is he interrogating my mother?"

"I told you; chances are that someone who's inside this city, someone who came from the Kingdom is plotting against us and we need to find out which one. They don't think it's you and Graham is with your father so it can't be him either, so that only leads to her."

Regina shook her head, meaning to say it couldn't be her mother. But no word came out because truth was that she didn't know for sure. The only thing that she knew was that she didn't like this new turn of events.

"Regina, The Apprentice is dead; he wasn't just a member of the Council but also our mentor and our brother so we can't let this matter unresolved. If what happened was because of something your mother did you know what we have to do."

That, she liked even less and she shuddered. Plotting or not, deservingly or, Cora was her blood, she was her mother and despite their differences she loved her.

"Let me talk to her. If she is indeed plotting I can get the name of the person she's conspiring with." Now, because of the circumstances, Regina doubted her mother had anything to do with any of that, but it might be that she could prove it to them if she talked to her.

Ruby looked at her through half closed eyes, as if considering her. "Fine, but make haste before it's too late." With that she turned and left the room.

Regina hurried and changed clothes, put on her boots and followed The Outlaw outside and on to the Council's building.

Everything that happened next was like a bad dream she couldn't wake up from. She got to the building and went in, her legs automatically carried her to the room she so desperately wanted to go.

Cora was there, once again sitting in a chair in the middle of the salon. She was disheveled and gone were the silks and velvets that characterized her way of dressing, she was in a plain cotton gown that somehow made her look smaller.

The Council had refused every petition of letting her see the older woman ever since that first night she was brought in, and now that she got the chance to see her, her heart broke a little at the sight of her.

She was unrecognizable; she looked a complete broken woman, only the shadow of her former self. They had her in chains and her head was being forced down unto a table by none other than Snow.

The Outlaw had her fingers entwined into Cora's hair and every once in a while he would lift her head close to her face so that she could talk into her ear.

To all that, Cora just laughed, almost manically and Regina flinched at the sight of her mother in that state.

Robin was there as well, unharmed as Ruby had said. He was silently watching the exchange between Snow and Cora and it came into her mind that he had yet to know she was there and she decided to take a moment and think about what could she really do in that situation.

They all seemed unharmed but The Apprentice's absence was enough proof of what had happened out there and that wasn't good.

Scanning her surroundings, she noticed the rest of the Council. Charming was standing at Hook's side, supporting his weight with one of the biggest swords she had ever seen, it was bare for everyone to see, the metal glowing in her eyes.

A bare sword was never a good thing in a situation like that one and she looked around some more until she realized that Hook also had a sword in hand. The tension was palpable and it could only turn for the worse.

Back to Robin, he was just standing there, two steps behind the other two men and exactly as she noticed before, he just stood there observing the scene with a calmness that was too eerie to observe.

Ruby, who just got into the room along with her, went straight to Snow; she leaned into her fellow comrade and said something in her ear, Snow nodded but her eyes remained on Cora.

She was occupied absorbing her surroundings, trying to think of a way to stop all the madness when Cora's laughter interrupted her thoughts. It was coarse and cruel and nothing like her mother's behavior.

"Nothing you can do will prevent it. Your city will not only fall, it will burn and each one of you will die."

At those words, Regina could feel her body tense in anticipation, and with horror she saw as Snow lifted her mother's head and then slammed it to the table.

"Enough of this. Give me the sword, Charming."

The blonde man stepped in; anger had taken over his features as it had done with the others.

Had she come to late? Had her mother admitted already?

Before Charming could even lift the sword off the floor to strike, Regina rushed forward. She wasn't aware of when she did it or how but she now found herself standing in front of Charming, pleading to him as his eyes burned a hole through her.

"Please don't do it." She said when she found her voice.

Cora turned her head to look at her and Snow grabbed her by the hair again and forced it down. She didn't look at her, her eyes were glued to Robin's once Charming turned his back on her and walked away.

And Robin? He was looking down at her with something close to anger.

"Don't you dare beg, Regina, don't you dare they are nothing and they will die as nothing." Cora spat, her voice raspy and quite off. "You don't have to lower yourself for these brutes so don't you beg. Haven't I taught you well?"

"How would you like to die looking at the sweet face of your daughter?" Hook hissed.

Regina blocked his words and the others out of her mind, only Robin mattered.

His blue eyes were hard on her, the same eyes that gleamed into hers when they were in the brink of passion held nothing but hatred now, but was it for her?

"Someone take her out of here." Robin's voice was flat and devoid of any emotion. His tone was cruel to her ears and she shivered at the memory of those same lips whispering her name in ardor behind closed doors.

"If you kill her everything will be lost." She wasn't sure what she meant by that but it felt like the right thing to say. "This has turned into a cycle of recycled revenge and if you kill her it will never end." She felt someone grabbing her to make her back off a step, but she refused letting her eyes break away from Robin's.

"Take her out." Robin rasped and looked away from her.

She felt a wave of numbness hit her hard as she was lead out of the room. She wanted to say something, to do something but she just couldn't. She looked back at the person who was walking her out, maybe she could convince that one. It was Charming, and she knew there would be no point.

XxXxX

The waiting never seemed to end. An eternity has passed by since Charming left her in her room and still no news of her mother's fate was reported to her. She could always go back there and find for herself, it was not like she couldn't walk out. But she was afraid to do so.

So she had remained in the room looking out the window.

Now this room gave her a sense of solace and she didn't want to leave it. It was his room, now converted into hers. But it was still his too; his possessions were all over the place.

She was the only one occupying it as of late so did that make it hers alone? She wasn't sure and she didn't care. If he had killed her mother there was no way she could ever share anything with him, not ever. She would have to move… but where to and would they even allow that?

The door began to open and she got up from the chair she had been sitting in. It was him; he went in without spending a glance at her and went straight to the washroom.

She followed him to find him stripping out of his shirt.

"Did you kill her?" Her voice was surprisingly even as she observed him splashing water to his face. She made a point of watching his bloodless hands, that could be considered as a good sign but Hook could have done it instead, even Snow… or Charming when he got back.

"No, I didn't." He responded in the same flat tone he used earlier.

"Did somebody else do it?" She found a bit of relief in the fact that he hadn't done it, but even Ruby could have done it.

He dried his face, turned around and they were face to face, blue eye to brown eye. "She's alive" He brushed past her and strode into the chamber, leaving her behind.

Regina closed her eyes, letting relief wash over her. She stood there for a few moments before walking after him.

He was sitting at the edge of the bed; his head was cradled into his hands and his elbows resting in his thighs. She didn't like seeing him like that and she couldn't help but to feel for him, after all he had lost a dear friend not long ago. The Apprentice didn't get his second chance as Cora had just done.

"We changed our plan." He said without shifting his position. "We are going to keep your mother and send you back to the castle instead."

Regina has been making her way to him when he had spoken. She froze right on the spot as the words registered in her brain. "What?"

He had the decency to look at her. "Keeping you here was The Apprentice's idea, now he's gone and we don't see why we should carry on with it."

"You'll send me back…" She said it just to savor the words. They felt bitter and spoiled in her mouth.

"If we let Cora walk out of here this war will never end, she would go to The King and talk your father into gathering his remaining warriors and keep on with their antics. We can't allow that to happen… We have a better chance at ending this with you back at the castle."

She has wanted to go back to the castle since the moment they had chased her into the forest; she had dreamed of the moment when she get to see her three ladies, her father... So why she was feeling this emptiness now that she finally had the chance to get her dreams come true?

She swallowed hard, running her fingers through her hair. "So why did you agree on marrying me if you had your mind set on getting rid of me as soon as the chance came?"

"The Council voted on it." He said flatly, as if it was not big deal for him.

He had married her and ruined her life for a majority vote. How could she go back to the castle wed to a an Outlaw and expect her father to receive her with open arms? She was damaged goods for all he would care, and even if they broke the marriage and he accepted her back no one would take her _tainted_.

She didn't want anyone else either.

She let out a bitter chuckle, her eyes prickled but she blinked the feeling away. Her mind was dancing in victory, but her heart was shriveling and dying in her chest. "When do you plan to send me home?" Home, she barely remembered the meaning of that.

His eyes were on her and she found it unbearable to look at him, she looked away.

"We are going out on the morrow to look for Leopold. We already know where he's at and after we get him and judge him accordingly you'll be sent back. We all agreed that sending you back with him on the loose would be a serious mistake."

"I see you have it all planned out." Her voice was restrained; it was an effort to force the words out her throat.

He didn't respond; he just stared at her and remained in silence, motionless.

"Fine then." She turned around and walked slowly towards the washroom.

She wanted to run, but she forced her legs to a slow pace, a pace worthy of what she was, a Princess. Somewhere along her way she had forgotten that, but no more.

"Regina…" He called for her but she ignored him. She closed the washroom door behind her back and once in the solitude of the room she let the tears wash down her face.


	12. Chapter 12

Taking in a deep breath to control the turmoil of emotions that had taken over her, Regina closed her burning eyes and pressed her back against the door; allowing the wooden barrier to hold her weight.

With the back of her hand she wiped at the wet trail of shame that ran down her cheeks, and once her tears were dried she willed herself no to release any more.

If she hadn't cried when she has been taken out the castle, there was no reason to cry now that she was finally going back.

She took another breath, this one an attempt to regulate the beating of her heart… it helped a little, but not by much. Even if she could manage to calm her frenzied heart to normalcy, there was no way she could organize all the thoughts running through her mind; she just could not focus her attention in any one of them without going on to the next one.

Her mind was a mumble of thoughts; a collection of images that were all messed up and intertwined. There was Robin and their short marriage at the top of them all, her mother's new chance at life in captivity, Leopold's wretched antics, her impending journey back to the castle, her father…

"Open the door." His voice came loud and clear even when there was a barrier separating them. He accompanied his words with a few knocks and she could feel the door trembling slightly with his efforts; her body moved in unison with it. She wanted to ignore him, but his voice echoed into her head and permeated in her brain.

He wanted her to open the door but there was no way she was going to do anything of the kind. She had let her armor slip away too easily back in that room the moment he told her he was going to send her away. She needed to clad herself back in it, it was the only thing she had left… she just didn't know how to put it back on.

That was bad, but the worst part was that she couldn't explain why his decision had bothered her like it did.

"Come on Regina, open the door." He insisted.

"Just leave me alone." She answered in defeat, her tone broken and beat down.

What else did he want? He had taken everything that mattered from her, now that he was disposing of her the least he could do was grant her a little bit of privacy. She needed it to collect herself. If she had to face him she wanted to be in control of her emotions, thing that she was far from achieving at the moment.

She has been expecting to hear his voice utter a response, maybe a refusal, but when neither came she opened her eyes. It was dark in the washroom, but not enough as not to let her take in her surroundings.

Sunset was yet to come and the dull light of a late afternoon illuminated poorly the room through the window. The thought rushed into her mind that ever since leaving the Kingdom she always found herself in the dark, or had it always been this way for her?

For a long moment she stood there, leaning against the door as silence and darkness consumed her whole. Had he complied to her request and left for good?

What if he did? Would her last memory of him be the one of him sitting at the corner of the bed while he stared at her with the intensity of his blue eyes? Would she ever see him again?

Robin, the man she could have loved if given the time… or had that been Leopold? She wasn't sure anymore. Her mind was fussy and she didn't know for sure if Robin had taken her away from Leopold or if it has been the other way around. It didn't matter, nothing mattered.

Her hand found the knob but just lingered there while she waited. There was no sound coming through the other side or any other indication of him still being there. For all she knew he could have taken off already to hunt Leopold down and that way speed up her departure from The Enchanted Forest.

He had no reason to keep her there, so why would he?

Slowly, she turned the knob and opened the door. She wanted to crawl into the bed and sleep all her worries away. It could be that when morning came she would feel better and more optimistic.

It wasn't to be that way; he always had a way for ruining her plans. As soon as she opened the door she found him standing right in front of her, arms folded against his chest as he lifted his gaze off the floor to look at her.

She only had a few seconds to think, and during that brief period of time she played with the idea of closing the door on him and shut herself back into the washroom, this time indefinitely. But his hands moved quicker that her mind and before she could even decide on what to do he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the doorframe and back into the room.

"What are you doing, let go of me." She yelped in surprise because she didn't know what else to say.

"Do you care to explain the hissy fit now? I mean isn't this what you wanted? You wanted your mother to live, I let her live. You wanted to go back to the castle; back to the castle you go. What else do you want, Regina?" He asked, his fingers still wrapped tight around her arm and his eyes surveying hers.

"This is exactly what I wanted. Should I thank you now or should a send a letter when I get back to the castle?" She spat refusing to let her heated gaze drift from his.

He wasn't backing down either and if anything, the intensity of his stare only increased. "Then why so upset?"

"I am not upset." She lied; but he had no reason to find out. "What I am is sick and tired of everyone using me to get what they want. I am not an object that you can toss around at your convenience."

"We are not tossing you around, what-" He started to say but she interrupted him.

"Of course you are! The only reason you are sending me back is to serve your interest and I don't even know what those are. You move me around as if I was nothing but a pawn and I don't like it."

"Our only interest is our people, their safety and well being. Regina, you may not see it but you are our best chance at achieving that. With you on the throne we can work together and secure the safety not only of The Enchanted Forest, but the Kingdom's as well."

"My father is not even dead and you are already thinking of me on the throne." She laughed but there was no real amusement in it. "You are a fool if you think he or even Leopold will let me inherit his throne now."

Now, that wasn't necessarily true because if she was sure of something it was that her father loved her dearly and would receive her with open arms, but realistically speaking, his advisers would rebel if she went back home, married to an Outlaw and with the intention to rule. That was without mentioning Leopold, who by now should have all ties with her father's reign severed.

And what if she was with child? She sent a silent plead to the Gods, begging them so that her previous though wouldn't become a reality. If that was to be the case she would find herself in a limbo, neither welcome at The Kingdom nor at The Enchanted Forest.

"We will take care of Leopold. As for your mother, she will remain here indefinitely so she won't be able to impair your father's judgement as she has being doing. And either way you are his only heir, so it isn't like he has a lot of options. He already agreed to our first offer and that one divided his country in half. He has no other choice but to accept this one as well. When the time comes, you will rule and…"

She leaned into him, rising on her tiptoes a bit so that she could get in his face. She was getting angrier by the minute, and she had a tendency of messing things up when she was angry. "I don't want to rule." She hissed to him in contempt.

"Unfortunely, sometimes he have to do things we don't want to for the sake of our people. You would understand that if it wasn't because you are so conceited." He replied.

She tried to sneak out of his hold but he grabbed her harder when she started to struggle. Why couldn't he just let her be.

"Conceited?" She scoffed. "You don't get it, do you? You want to burden me with a cause that I care nothing at all. I don't care about your people, their safety or whatever their needs are. If it were for me I would have Leopold and his men kill them all and be done with it."

"I don't believe what you are saying, you just don't have it in your heart to be like them." His tone was calm and even and it only made her angrier, he didn't know her and he should not make assumptions on her. "That's why we want you there."

"I could have him you kill too."

That did ruffle him up. If it was possible, he tightened his grip even more and leaned into her. "You want me dead?" His voice was almost a whisper and his breath was warm on her face.

She had to swallow hard a lump that had formed in her throat. No, she didn't want him dead… but her voice wasn't in accordance with her brain. "Yes." She responded in defiance.

He took a moment to consider her words, a moment in which an uncomfortable silence took over them. Her heart was beating wildly and she was sure he could hear it too; it was the only sound in the room. She wanted to take those words back, to say something, anything to end the silence, but he was the one to break it.

"That's not the impression I get out of you when we lay together." He drew even closer, his unique scent wafting over her. She could feel her cheeks flushing and she hated him for making her so weak. "That's not what your body says to me when I touch you." He ran a finger down her spine to prove his point, and prove it he did because she shivered slightly when his fingers slipped underneath the fabric of her shirt to repeat the same action on her naked skin.

She wanted nothing more than to push him away… but she couldn't. Her back arched the slightness bit and she forced it to straighten up before speaking. "I had to do it or you would have my mother killed." Her voice was low, too low for her taste.

His eyes were still on hers, studying her. He was way too close, their bodies touching as they had done not many nights ago. He quirked the corner of his mouth and his eyes lowered to find her biting on her lower lip. "Is that so?"

She nodded because she couldn't speak. He knew that she was blatantly lying. Bastard. His fingers were still underneath her shirt, running along her spine in a slight caress. But because she was too proud for her own good, she smirked cruelly and forced her voice to come up with something.

"I didn't act any differently with you than what I would have acted with Leopold. It is after all what I've been taught all my life. To play the good wife."

He fixed his eyes on her, digging so deep that she was sure he was reaching her very soul. The silence taking over the room deafening.

"I don't believe you." He said at last, his tone lower and lighter than what it has been a moment ago.

"I don't care if you believe me or not." She tried in vain to get free of his hold once more. "Now let me go." She wanted to get away from him as soon as possible. She didn't trust herself when he looked at her like he was doing now.

There was lust on his blue eyes, she had seen that sparkle before and she could recognize it for what it was. She could also feel his lust through the fabric of his pants, taunting her with endless possibilities.

The sensation of him wanting her amid their heated discussion went right to her core. She didn't want to feel that way, not when he was about to get rid of her.

But the touch of his fingers on her back made her melt into nothingness, her body wanted her mind to give in. Maybe one last time before she went back to her previous life, the one she could barely remember. She could feel her cheeks burning; she was on the verge of losing her composure.

"No harm will come to your mother because of me, you have my word… now tell me that you don't want me to kiss you and I'll go."

She opened her mouth to reply but her words got caught in her throat when his lips found the spot on her neck that made her tremble with need, he ran his tongue along it and then nibbled at her skin. When had their arguing turned this way?

"Tell me that you don't want me to make you mine and you will never see me again."

She shut her eyes. Gods helped her but she wanted him. She wanted him to kiss her, to bury himself deep inside of her so that she would be complete for one last time… but she knew she had to say the words, she needed to send him away.

"It doesn't matter… if I want it or not." Her voice came out in broken gasps. It didn't matter; he was going to send her away anyway.

"It matters to me." He said and she gasped when his hands went to her rear and he lifted her off the floor, she parted her legs and they circled his hips on instinct.

His mouth was still on her neck, moving upward towards her ear and she threw her head back to grant his lips even more access. She loved those lips and the way they made her feel.

This was the way it was meant to be, just the two of them giving into each other. Every time his lips found her skin there was no other thought in her mind. Her mother didn't exist and neither did her father, she just needed to feel. She didn't want to rule the Kingdom or go back to the castle, she just wanted to stay with him, like this, getting lost in him, succumbing to the blossoming feelings his hands provoked when they touched her.

His back was hard under her hands and it rippled with effort as he walked carrying her. "Robin…" she whispered when he set her down on top of his desk. This was not right, she needed to make him stop but her legs were still wrapped around him, she didn't want to stop him.

His lips finally found hers, muffling and making her forget whatever she was going to say in the first place. He was kissing her deep and passionately and she couldn't help but to thrust her hips into him, craving for a more intimate contact. He moaned into the kiss and she buried her fingers into his silky locks, pulling him closer and deeper into her mouth.

She knew it was wrong, but what damage could it bring? She had already given him her body and soul.

He pulled at her pants, sliding them effortlessly off her legs without breaking the kiss. The air was cool against her newly exposed flesh, but when his hands went to run along her thighs they set her skin on fire. She wrapped her legs even tighter around him, forcing him closer.

There was still the inconvenience of the rest of their clothes and she wanted them off so she could feel all of him against her. Her anger was long forgotten, she didn't want to think on what was to come, instead she wanted to concentrate in her present, their present.

His hands were all over her, his tongue exploring her deeply, he was making her feel wanton and she knew that no other man would ever make her feel like he did. She wanted to memorize him all, his skin, his scent, all of him so that she could take solace in the memory of him once she could not have him.

He grunted when a knock came at the door, disrupting what could be their final night together. They tried to ignore it at first, but it continued. He tore his lips away from her angrily and let out a curse. He looked at the door and then back at her, his eyes dark and wild. "Just ignore it." He took possession of her swollen lips again but the knocking was incessant. It didn't take long before a voice joined the knocking.

"Robin." It was Charming.

Robin slid his hands underneath her, cupping her rear as he lifted her once more. He carried her to the next room and put her down on the bed, he lowered himself on top of her. Still, the knocking continued.

"I know you are in there." The other Outlaw said, even in the farthest room his voice and his knocking interrupted them. "And I hope you are not getting any while I'm standing here."

They continued kissing and touching hungrily, refusing their unquenchable need to be interrupted by the man's inopportune visit. But a time came when they were both getting distracted by the Outlaw.

They only needed a few more minutes, if he would just go away.

"Robin of Locksley… We have a new lead to follow and we have to go now, come on, we can't go without you!" Damn the man.

With a sigh of frustration, she moved her lips away from his, her hands still running along his sides. "You should get that."

She didn't want him to get that, but he would… and then he was going to leave, she knew it. Even when he had said that they were leaving on the morrow. And the sooner he left the sooner they were going to send her back. It was too soon.

He rested his chin at the swell of her breast. Even through the fabric his breath felt hot against her, all his body felt hot ho her.

She felt like crying in that moment and it took everything in her not to cling to him and beg him to stay. Instead she pressed her lips against his forehead while running her fingers through his hair.

Maybe they were never meant to be. That they met and found themselves entwined in this messy situation was only a cruel joke of the Gods. He belonged to the Council, to The Enchanted Forest, while she belonged at the castle.

"Robin!"

"I'm coming!" He yelled back angrily. "God I'm going to kill that bloody wanker one of these days." He pushed himself off her but pulled her with him so that she would sit. "We'll talk when I get back, alright?

She nodded and gave him a slight smile. Talking was alright; it could lead to something good, and it meant that she would see him again. He smiled back, probably this first one of that nature he flashed her way. After he kissed her before leaving with Charming.

XxXxXxXxXxX

It was already nightfall when the knock came. Regina wasn't asleep but she remained motionless in bed for a moment before deciding to answer it. She had no idea who could it be and she made a few guesses as she made her way to the door. All that remained of the Council was Snow, and that was her best guess, the rest of them had just gone out a few hours ago.

She just hoped it wasn't bad news.

"Oh… it's you" Regina said in disdain as she saw the redhead Outlaw standing at her door. "What do you want?"

Zelena rolled her eyes in her usual manner. "I was send here to get you ready. The Council is waiting for you"

"Aren't they out following a lead?"

The woman just shrugged. "I'm just following orders, they told me to get you out there, and they want you to hurry."

Regina frowned.

"Now make sure you get dressed up warmly because we're going to ride to them, so come on, hush hush." Zelena took the liberty to enter the room and take a seat.

Regina found the whole ordeal strange but she went on to change in spite of her doubts. Once she was done she walked out to meet with Zelena. The redhead was still sitting in the same spot, a bored expression on her face.

"Let's make haste." She said when she saw Regina was ready. "The sooner we get this done the better."

Together they went out and down to the stables. Their horses were saddled and ready to mount.

"What about Snow?" She asked. If the Council wanted to meet her wasn't she supposed to be there as well? Why didn't they wait until getting back to the city? Unless they were planning on sending her back that same night.

"Don't be a silly girl, you know The Enchanted Forest doesn't send their entire Council members out at once."

She heard Zelena's words, but she ignored them. She was sure by now that they were going to send her back right away.

So she followed the Outlaw out the gate and into the darkness of the night, her heart heavy in her chest.

Zelena broke into a fast gallop and Regina had no choice but to accelerate her pace. It was dark and she didn't know her way around, she didn't want to fall behind. She wondered why they couldn't wait until morning; day would make it a lot easier to bear, as darkness had a way of polluting things. At least she would get to see him.

It didn't take that long before she spotted their camp, there was a fire in it to guide their way. Once again she found herself wondering, why would they make camp being so close to the city?

There was something odd going on. She slowed her pace.

Zelena got to the camp first and was by now dismounting. She studied the camp and that was when she saw him and he saw her. She stopped the horse abruptly.

He grinned and walked towards her direction and a giggle broke out of him. Regina felt time stop altogether for a moment before continuing with its cruel reality. "Well hello there, dearie... it was about time I got to see that pretty face of yours once again." He giggled again and made a mockery out of a courtesy.

Feeling confused, Regina felt her eyes growing wider and wider on her face. She couldn't speak and only limited herself to stare at the approaching man. She knew she ought to turn around and gallop as fast as the wind let her, back to The Enchanted Forest if she could find her way.

Zelena...

"Your Majesty!" Rumpelstiltskin called and the man himself, The King and the man she has been supposed to marry emerged from the darkness to join them. "Look who finally made her way back to us."


	13. Chapter 13

She didn't want to be afraid anymore. But the thing about fear was that once it knew your face it never really abandoned you. It just lay dormant, and while it might had fooled you into thinking that you had conquered it and grew stronger from it, it was really waiting for a cataclysm to show its ugly face once more and take control of your every cell. It was then when you realized that it had crawled under your skin and settled deep inside of you; that it had feasted on your entrails until there was nothing inside of you but fear itself.

She wanted to banish that feeling out of her system, or maybe to lock it somewhere where it wouldn't bother her anymore because this was Leopold after all, the man that for a long time she believed to be the one she was going to spend the rest of her life with… a man that destiny had put on her path once again.

She also had to remember that if it wasn't because The Outlaws had taken her away she would by now be his wife. She had no real cause to fear him, but still, for some reason she did.

In the past, back in her previous life he had been nothing but gallant towards her, a real gentleman that despite of his position as King only treated her right. But this was not the past, it was the present and in this strange present his eyes were unkind and his demeanor screamed vicious.

"Aren't you glad to see us?" Rumple said almost in a sing along tone. "Because we have come a long way just for you."

As the mocking man said that, The King remained on his spot. He said nothing, but he never took his cruel eyes away from her.

She flashed them what she believed to be a genuine smile, it felt phony on her face and the effort of it made her cheeks ache. She was afraid it came out as a grimace but because she knew she had to play well the cards that destiny had given her, she kept it.

"Of course I am. My King." She did a subtle courtesy, making sure that the smile would keep plastered on her face.

That right there did the trick because Leopold finally moved from the place he has been standing, then when he was close he reached for her to help her down the horse.

He did it effortlessly, and as his hands circled around her waist she was unable to suppress a shiver that ran down her spine.

She couldn't help it, after all the things she knew him to be capable of, there was now a mixture of fear and repulsion settling deep into her gut as he touched her.

Now more than ever, she felt like a lamb trapped in the lion's den. She plain and simple didn't know how to play this game life had forced upon her and being at a loss disconcerted her.

She was walking on thin ice and it could break under her feet. It was going to break, she could feel it cracking already.

Fortunately for her, the stern looking man pulled away soon enough to take a good look at her. His eyes were critical and condescending, but she stood as straight and proud as she could. "You look like one of them." He said, his tone anything but kind.

Regina looked down to her clothes and then back at him. She had dressed comfortably warm just like Zelena, the traitorous witch, told her to and it came into her mind that in his presence she has always been clad in fine satins, silk and velvets.

She used to dress like the future queen she was supposed to be, but now she looked like one of the so called savages, just like he pointed out.

Lifting her face in fake defiance, she tried to force upon herself a wave of bravery that would allow her to speak without her voice cracking. "What can I say, it's cold in this wasteland."

Rumple giggled at that and she grinned, it was easier than smiling.

"So let's take care of that, I have the perfect dress for you." The Imp, as people called him behind his back, threw his arm over her shoulder and walked with her to the camp. The King followed like a silent shadow.

It made her feel on edge that she couldn't see him, but the touch of Rumple also made her feel out of her element.

If she could only keep on with this. But it took great effort on her part not to push him away and tell him not to touch her and right there she knew that everything was going to be so much of an internal battle from now on.

Clenching her jaw so hard that it hurt, she focused her attention on her surroundings, trying to ignore the man at her side or even the one behind.

Zelena was nowhere to be found; somewhere amidst her exchange of words with her new captors the woman had taken off. Not far she assumed because her horse was still there.

She wanted a word with the redhead, hell, she wanted more that a word with her.

Keeping the scanning of her surroundings, she saw that were a few warriors scattered around the camp going about their business. Some of them she knew by sight and a few others by name, all of them strangers to her either way.

"So did my father send you for me?" She asked for lack of something better to say. She could only hope that it had been the case, but deep in her heart she knew it wasn't.

Rumpelstiltskin wavered and took his moment before answering. "As it happened to be, your father and the King kind of lost contact the moment he signed a treaty with The Outlaws instead of honoring the one he already had. That's treason in case you were wondering." Giggling again in that way he had that made him sound a madman, Rumple clapped his hands hard.

Her heart stopped. She was very well aware about how men liked to play their games of power and well, the most powerful King in all the Kingdoms was Leopold. Her father didn't even had half the might her former betrothed had and if he wanted to he could dethrone him.

He could even ask for the man's head and more than a few loyalist would bring it to him on a silver plate and no, that wasn't good.

As she thought about that, fear started to take control of her once again and she was unable to say anything at all.

"Your father, dearie, is old and useless; he's dragging the Kingdom rapidly into a pit. He made some terrible choices that will cost him dearly. But you and The King, I've foreseen that you are going to make great things together. Once you marry the Kingdoms will finally be under one rule only and your reign shall be remember through all eternity."

Regina scoffed at that, she was unable to hold it. "I'm already married."

That she was wedded was a fact no one could ignore so no, she couldn't marry Leopold even if she wanted to, and she didn't. It was against her Gods' way, she was not going to mess with the Gods, even though when they had messed with her.

Rumple stopped in his tracks and glared down at her, he did it in disdain and with a snarl on his lips. "Oh yes, that. Guess we'll have to make you a widow then! But fear not, as that won't be hard thing to achieve because as we are finding out, Outlaws are not that hard to kill."

He continued to walk and she had no choice but to walk by his side.

"Now where was I? Oh yes, once you marry, we'll take control of everything. Even the Enchanted Forest will fall under our future epic rule."

Once that was said he took a look over his shoulder and apparently thinking he was out of The King's hearing ratio, he leaned against her and whispered into her ear. It made her skin crawl and she had to bite on the inside of her cheeks to keep from telling him off.

"Now just don't go around reminding The King about the unfortunate event of you being married as he is still not taking that so great. I think he wanted to take your maidenhood." Giggling and putting some distance between them, he used his free hand to make an gesture that seemed to be obscene.

Uncomfortable, she cleared her throat. "What about my mother?"

He snickered. "Cora served us well to get the marriage between you and The King going, but she didn't do a good job if you ended up marrying another man, now did she? We have you now where we want to so she can rot in there as far as we are concerned."

She blinked her shock away. The man was talking about getting rid of her father, killing Robin and turning on her mother and he actually expected her to agree with it all?

She couldn't help but to tense under the weight of his arm, thing that he noticed because he halted and faced her. "What?" He snapped.

She was mad at both of them, mad because their plans included the destruction of so many just so they could gain power.

"Seems to me you have all of this very well planned, Imp."

"Of course I planned it perfectly. Would have been better if you wouldn't have let yourself be taken and if you wouldn't have spread those pretty legs of yours so fast but still here we are and still the wheel spins."

Suddenly, she saw the man as the brain behind the muscle, he was the great instigator and she licked her lips, nodding as everything became clearer. "Very well played, now I wonder how long will it take you to turn on the King and rule yourself."

Rumple's eyes darkened. But before he could reply to that she felt how someone grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked hard at it to force her head back.

She gasped both in shock and in pain.

It was Leopold, and as he leaned into her she noticed that his reddened face was distorted in his anger.

"If I were you I would keep my mouth shut, because even if Rumpelstiltskin thinks I need you, I really don't. Specially now that you turned into nothing more than a savage whore. You are lucky I'm still willing to take your worthless self and make you Queen." He gave another yank that sent to her brain a horrible stab of pain, it made her eyes water.

"Careful now, we do need her. Remember I told you. You without her and her without you is not how it will play out." Rumple said in a nervous giggle as he tried to make the King let go of Regina.

But he wasn't letting go, if anything he was hurting her even more. "Now be sure about this, Princess, I'm going to take extra pleasure in killing the one you ended up whoring for, and I'm going to make you watch." With that he pushed her away and left fuming. He was gone before she could even blink.

She stumbled clumsily into Rumple and he grabbed her by the arm to steady her. She pulled angrily away from him and shot him a heated glare. "Don't you dare touch me." At least she wouldn't have to pretend anymore.

"Careful how you talk to the one that can make you stay alive in this, dearie." The Imp stared down at her with eyes of steel before following Leopold like the dog that he was. Once they were both gone she was left alone with a pounding scalp and a wary heart.

Lifting her chin and twisting her lips, she wondered why destiny had lead her life turn for the worse so abruptly, why did everything that would happen only served to complicated her existence?

She had no answer so swallowing hard down, she looked around, trying to figure out what to do.

Scanning her surroundings, she noticed that the warriors that were around ignored the scene that had just taken place and continued with whatever they were doing before. Regina took a good look at them, all of them. If she ever got the chance to get out of here and back to the Kingdom… without Leopold that was, she was going to have them all hang.

"If I were you I would try not to piss him off, he's been in a rotten mood as of late."

Regina turned around to face the insolent man that was talking to her. He was one of the Kingdom's warriors, she had seen him before but she didn't know his name. His face she did recognize because she has seen him many times training on the yard.

"Keep your advice to yourself, I don't need it." She hissed full of contemp.

He smiled more widely. "Yeah, sure, I noticed… anyway, my name is Kristoff." He was still smiling to her but she turned and walked away from him. Where to? Anywhere were she could be alone and wonder about her fate.

"Where are you going?" He said catching up to her and walking by her side. What a pest.

She sighed in annoyance. "Did he send you to watch over me?" She asked with her hands on her hips. If that has been the case it was way better than Leopold himself taking care of her, but still... "If that's so you can go away, I'm not going to sneak out." Just because she didn't knew how to go back, but that was information she didn't need to share.

"Oh no, no… he didn't send me." He said and put a hand on her back so that she would keep walking. She did, she walked with him away from prying ears, her eyes squinting and the fact that he was touching her very present in her mind.

"Then why are you following me?" She asked, stopping in her tracks and facing him.

His hand dropped now that they were in a secluded corner and he sent her an apologetic smile. "Why? We are just trying to help you. Maybe find a way to get you out of here when The King and his cronies aren't watching… I don't think it would be possible tonight but we'll see."

"Are you serious?" Regina didn't want to believe him, but just because she knew that when things seemed to be too good to be true they certainly weren't true.

"Sure I am. That's why I was sent here to join the King's caravan. To get you back."

Back? "Did Robin send you?" Hope was the last thing one would lose, even when deep in your heart you knew it to be impossible.

"Robin?" The man frowned and gave her a quizzical look. "No, it was your father, The King."


	14. Chapter 14

From the corner of the room where she was sitting in, Regina observed in silence the way Leopold paced back and forth around the reduced space that limited them.

During the time she has been there, he must have stridden the equivalent distance that divided The Enchanted Forest and The Kingdom and then some more, all within the confinements of the room.

He was beyond angry as he did that and she didn't dare to take her eyes away from him in case he would halt his frantic pacing and lash at her; she was ready for it but so far he hadn't even looked at her.

He was just… walking along. He has been at it for a while now and she wondered how much longer it would take him to remember that she was still there.

Hoping for that to never happen, she kept her eyes on him, noticing that his brow was wrinkled into countless worry lines and his breathing was coming out in forcefully puffs that made him resemble a rabid beast. She was pretty much sure that the air that wrapped around him was ten degrees higher and increasing in intensity rapidly.

He made for an intimidating sight, and after being at the other end of his ill humor for a couple of times now, she was just glad that his attention wasn't focused on her this time, nor was his wrath.

It sounded odd, but the Gods had graced her with Zelena's presence so that his attention wouldn't be on her.

"Why are they not here yet?" His tone sounded low and calm, but Regina could feel the anger it carried well enough. She has been studying him for the past days, observing his mood swings and as of now she could say she knew how he operated.

It hadn't been so hard to figure him out, after all she has been traveling with his entourage for a few days now and if there was something she has learnt was that on top of being very unpredictable, he also had an extremely short fuse.

True, projecting himself very different from the man she thought she knew, he was always in a foul mood that left much to be desired, but even with his apparent never-ending acrid demeanor, there were layers to him.

There were the days when he was approachable even though forbidding and there were other days when everybody tried to stay clear of him. The only person that could somehow appease him was Rumplelstinskin and even him would find most of his attempts to keep the man at bay futile.

Talk among those in camp said that The King was getting out of control, that he wasn't acting his own self ever since The Outlaws first defeated his forces and yes, there was even talk that he was acting that way because he was under the influence of dark magic… magic that according to most has been casted out by the one and only Rumplelstinskin.

Regina didn't know about any of that and she didn't care what motivated Leopold to act the way he was acting, the only thing she knew was that with every day that passed the more she worried about her own well being.

True, ever since she got there she has been worried, but after that fateful night things only got worse.

It went like this, by their second day on the road Leopold started to become overly edgy and suspicious, even with Rumple promising him all was going according to their plain he just couldn't find peace of mind. He felt menacing shadows giving them pursuit and lurking at every turn ahead of them and more often than not Regina noticed him seeking for them in the darkness with his prying eyes.

As irritable as the whole deal made him and despite how perilous he was getting, the young princess was glad that paranoia was eating him whole. Since he had no conscience to bug him at least the Gods gave him something that did.

Now because of his paranoia he was reluctant of sleeping in the open so he did not sleep for two nights in a row. It only made him more deranged, bad-tempered and difficult to deal with, but at least she hoped that in his distressed mental state she could get the chance to make for an escape.

Kristoff had said he was going to help her but since that first night she could not find the opportunity to have another talk with him. Leopold might be too occupied driving himself crazy with shadows that weren't there, but Rumpelstiltskin's eyes were always on her, watching every move she would make.

As time went by she decided that the so called Imp was a problem, and in her mind she played with numerous scenarios to get rid of him. They ranged from the most silly and ridiculous to the outright macabre; none of them would do.

So yes, it was bad, but not to a point were she just lost all hope. At least it hadn't been that way until that morning came and with it something that threw her off completely.

That day The King emerged with renewed good spirits; he has even invited her to ride at his side so he could recite to her his plans of grandeur and glory; plans that according to him they were going to achieve together.

There has been no mention of his outbursts of anger towards her, but he did mention that they should marry as soon as it was possible.

Thing that of course, didn't settle well with her.

But back to what happened that morning, Regina recalled in her mind that to ride with Leopold they had dressed her accordingly to her position as future Queen, with a long sleeve velvet dress colored a deep crimson red that hugged her frame like a second skin. It was embellished at the waist with black lace that ran all the way to her chest, the see through delicate fabric barely covering the low neckline the dress provided.

It was truly an astounding piece of clothing that fit her royal claim, but it was very inconvenient for riding and for some reason, the rich fabric only made the weight of what was going on settle uncomfortably on her heart.

Rumple said it was how she had to look from now on and he also sent for her hair to be styled upon his request. Now her black hair fell straight down her back while the top was made into an intricate bun. Her lips were colored, the outline of her eyes were marked up and she has been bathed with scented waters and oils.

It reminded her of how the Outlaws prepared her for her wedding night and for some reason that made her feel terrified. After all The King was that day putting a very special attention to her that she didn't like.

Thankfully, other than glance every now and then at her cleavage he didn't do much, he just talked his talk and rode on.

When they returned from mounting the camp was no longer there. And why should it be? Because as she came to realize, while they were gone Leopold had sent for his warriors, under the command of Rumple, of course, to raid a small Outlaw village.

She didn't see it happen, but he made sure she listened to every single detail of what went on. How they killed on sight, only sparing a few that could run from the carnage and report The Council because yes, apparently his only reason to order such a heinous act was to ambush The Outlaws into a trap so the shadows would leave him alone.

He was sure the fools were going to hurry themselves into the village to fight them off, that was at least what he told her; no remorse showing on his face.

All that happened earlier in the day, and now that night was fast approaching and they were settled on the small town he sent to destroy, he still waited, the good humor he had that morning long gone.

The Outlaws were not there, they didn't rush coming by as he has hoped and that made his mood sour. Well… the only one that arrived to the village was Zelena and she was the one Leopold was focusing on.

"This is not going to work, you already succeeded with this shenanigan once and got one of them killed, they are not stupid enough to fall for it twice." The woman responded with her thick accent. "They'll come; but they'll come in silence, quiet as shadows so they can catch you off guard. Who knows, maybe they are already here." She flipped at her hair and smiled mischievously at Leopold.

The man stopped cold in his tracks and stared at Zelena. For a moment Regina thought he was going to hit the redhead as he has done to her the night before when she told him she didn't want to sit with him at dinner.

It has been hard and fast smack and at the end she ended up dinning with him, her chin tilted up high and the food tasting like blood.

But he didn't hit Zelena and instead all of a sudden a sadistic smile twisted his lips. "You think they are near?"

"I can pretty much assure you they are." With a cocky grin she turned her head a little to the side so that she could face her. "They tend to all complains their villagers bring to them. There's that and there's also the fact that they are not going to let go Robin's little whore be-"

Whatever Zelena was going to say was cut short when Leopold hit her across the face. The Outlaw's head gave a violent turn that made Regina wince and as if it has been nothing, Leopold walked away from her and towards the door.

"Robin… I'm going to kill that one myself. Then I'll make them mount his head on a spike on my wedding day. I want to be done with them all tonight so they better be here or else it will be your head the one displayed outside this hovel." With that said he was gone and Regina found herself alone with a very pissed Zelena.

As for her, her mind went automatically to Robin and what Leopold just said, but because she knew she couldn't despair over something that hasn't happened, she tried to focus on the situation at hand.

"And for that you turned on your people, to be stricken and to have your own killed? You are worse than him."

Zelena glared at her, there was blood on her swollen lips and she wiped at it with the back of her hand. There was a mocking grin on her face that made her look kind of mad. "And for what did you turn on yours? For a man?"

Arching an eyebrow and straightening her posture, Regina eyed the other woman contemptuously. "I never turned my back on mine."

As a response, Zelena snorted. "Ask one of the Kingdom's loyalists and they'll tell you otherwise while claiming for your head. How do you think they took it when the news arrived to them that their would to be Queen was bedding an Outlaw?"

Twisting her lips, Regina stood up from the wooden chair. "I did what I had to do for my people."

"Oh come on, you did what you did because you wanted complete power over everything. It wasn't enough for you that this madman of a King wants you as his Queen, but you also had to be married into our Council!"

"I didn't ask for any of this." She replied because it was the truth. Zelena herself saw how she has been a prisoner in both places so it was ridiculous that she believed she has planned all of this just for power.

"But you sure as hell enjoyed it. I can see through you and I saw how much you loved having Robin and the rest of them wrapped around your finger; that must have made you feel like everything was going your way. But guess what? Now you lost everything and the best part is that you will always know that it was because of me. The only regret I have is that you were not there to see how everyone back at The Enchanted Forest is so sure you escaped to join The King on your own accord. Robin, particularly is not too happy."

Zelena laughed at that and Regina couldn't help but to close her hands into fists; she felt the sudden urge to hit the woman, but she tried to maintain herself calm.

"Now it will be my turn to shine. Who knows, I may even take Robin for myself."

"So what, are you doing this hoping that everything I'm leaving behind will automatically fall in your hands?" She scoffed, trying to process that information. "Maybe they don't know it was you who betrayed them, but they will, Zelena, they will. As for Robin, that's not going to happen. You are no one and you will never fill my shoes."

Apparently not liking her words, the blue eyed woman snarled her lips. "I wasted half my life in The Enchanted Forest; I was even paying up my dues to become one of the Council's owns." She laughed bitterly. "It was all for nothing, because you came out of nowhere with your pretty face and your claim as a princess to ruin everything. You ruined it! I earned my spot, you took it."

The woman was mad crazy, just as Leopold was, but by then Regina knew how to push her bottoms without having to put much effort on it.

So she walked closer to her and circled her, her eyes never leaving the redhead while a mocking sneer took possession of her lips. "Wait, you did all this because you are jealous of me?"

"I'm not jealous of you."

Regina forced out a laugh. "Of course you are, dear, your green is showing. But guess what? In or out of The Enchanted Forest you will be nothing but a lackey and my second best."

Groaning out loud, Zelena reacted angrily at Regina's words and slapped her hard on the face. That would make twice the times she had struck her and the Princess wasn't going to let it slip away. Last time they ended up burning her prison room down so she wondered if this time something of the sort would happen.

So she hit the woman back, right on the spot Leopold had done minutes earlier. It tore a yelp from the taller of the two and before Regina could consider her inexplicable savage manners, she was being pulled by the hair.

"I hate you." Zelena shrieked and before she could do something to retaliate, Leopold was back in the room.

"What is going on here?"

The young brunette turned to see Leopold standing by the entrance and Zelena took the opportunity to shove her hard. She ended up falling down on her rear.

Once she was down she didn't think it twice to react and later on she might be sorry, but not now. Now she was too mad to be thinking about consequences.

"She's ambushing you, My King, she's still with the savages and will turn on you." She was amazed at how easy the lie came out of her mouth and how her voice didn't even tremble.

The King's flaming eyes turned from one woman to the other. He looked like a maniac and now she started to wonder if she just did the right thing. He walked closer to them. "Is that so?"

Unable to utter a word, Regina saw how he unsheathed a sword she didn't even remember him having and she just had to swallow on dry, her eyes huge as plates as time seemed to have slowed down to a crawl.

Leopold was right between them and it could go either way, he could strike her as easily as he could strike Zelena.

"She's lying!" The wicked woman defended herself but from her place on the ground Regina could see how she started to back away, almost as if she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

"No I am not. She wanted to kill me right now because she knew I was going to tell on her." As soon as the words were out of the brown eyed, Zelena's own eyes widened in disbelieve as she looked down at her.

Turning ever so slowly, Leopold put the sword back where it belonged but then with an agility she wouldn't have believed if it wasn't because she saw it herself, he turned towards the Outlaw and before either one of them could blink he had his hands on her throat and he was squeezing.

Regina gasped as she looked at what was happening and only one thought ran through her mind.

'_I'm killing her."_

She might have not have her hands wrapped around the woman's throat so she could block her air passage, but she was the one who made it happen.

And Leopold… the man was sadistically taking his time, she knew because a man his size would have easily snapped Zelena's neck long ago, but she was still very much alive, red faced, scratching at his hands and searching frantically for air.

Witnessing such a scene made her react out of instinct and because his back was to her, she took that moment to get to her feet. Once up she took a piece of pottery that rested on top of a nearby table and she broke in on Leopold's head before bolting out of the room.

The last she saw of the man was how he went down to one knee while he let go of Zelena.

Once outside she grabbed what she could of her dress and then she ran. She ran as fast as she could, knowing very well that she couldn't stop even if she wanted to because Leopold could be at her heels and it wouldn't do to get herself caught by the man after what she did.

So she ran, and as she ran she tried to remember what house she had seen Kristoff taking. She had made sure to notice just in case. But right in that moment she couldn't remember which one he was in, so she ran distractedly, her mind reeling out of control as realization hit her.

Leopold was going to kill her.

Turning in a corner so she could get out of sight, she kept moving because she knew she just couldn't stop. At that hour, some of the warriors that were outside stared at her and she knew she must be an image, running in her high couture dress, her hair flowing and wild eyed as if the devil was at her heels.

But she didn't care, she could now remember where to look for Kristoff and that was where she was heading to. When she got to the house she went in unannounced.

As she hoped he would, the young warrior was there, but he wasn't alone. Regina got a bit apprehensive as she saw that the man who accompanied Kristoff was clad head to toe with a hooded black cloak that hid all his features so she halted on her tracks, her breathing shallow and her heart beating frantically.

"Princess, what happened?" It has been Kristoff the one who spoke, but the one who walked to her was the other one, the one with the cloak.

Taking a step back and getting ready to flee again, she began to turn but the man grabbed her arm.

"Regina."

She recognized the voice at once and feeling somehow relieved, she faced him. He took that as his cue and pulled the hood from his head and to reveal himself.

Nodding and pursing her lips but not really knowing how to react, Regina took in a deep breath. Last time she saw the man they didn't exactly end up in the best of terms, but at the same time he was a familiar face in a moment when she needed someone. That's why she ended up hugging him back when he wrapped his arms around her.

She didn't ask him though the questions that were now in her mind, the what was he doing there and what side was he actually on? Instead she decided to deal with the problems at hand first.

"I need to get out of here." She said while pushing away from him. "He'll kill me."

Graham ran a hand through his hair and stood in silence for a short while. "All right, Kristoff go get two horses and meet me at the back of the church, no get three, you are coming with us."

Kristoff nodded and left.

"Tell me what happened?"

Regina told her childhood friend all of what happened in a rush. When she was done he took her by the hand and walked to the door. "I hope you are still a fast runner because the church is quite far. And I can't be caught anymore than you can so we better do this right."

For a moment her memories betrayed her and she remembered how they used to do this when they were kids. It was by the time her mother prohibited her to mingle with the boy so they would to sneak out and hide as if their lives depended on it. It never ended up well for them, but it was only him the one who ended being beaten because of their escapades.

Now, by a macabre twist of fate, having their lives at stake was their reality so she squeezed his hand and gave him a slight smile.

"Then we better hurry."

So they went out and they ran; just as before no resistance was made by any of the warriors that were still outside, it was suspicious but she had no time to think about it.

Now, as Graham had promised, their path was long and when they where half the way she was already out of breath.

She kept running anyway, she had to keep up with Graham as he was dragging her along the way. But all of a sudden he stopped on his track and she collapsed against him.

She was going to ask what was going on, had Leopold or even Rumple finally found them? But then she looked up front and saw him. It was not The King but a dark haired man she had met not long ago and also, when she has been running.

Graham guarded Regina behind him and as if on cue a commotion broke somewhere in the distance.

"I'm not armed." Graham raised his arms as if to prove he was not lying.

The other man grinned and let the sword he was carrying drop to the ground. "Good, I would like to say the same but…" He lifted the arm with the hook in the air and shook it. "I would be lying. I do however, love a one on one, especially with a double traitor."

Looking from one man to the other, Regina gasped. This was wrong and in the situation they were in, Hook definitely shouldn't be going against Graham. "No, Hook you don't have…"

"Oh you shut up." The blue eyed man said to her in disdain. "You shouldn't have sneaked on us to join this people."

"I didn't sneak out-"

Regina started to say, but instead of waiting for an explanation Hook moved forward and hit Graham right in the jaw.

"Hook!" She yelled but Graham retaliated by punching him back and in a matter of nothing they were fully engaged in fighting each other. "This can't be serious."

That was when chaos erupted all around her because while Hook and Graham fought each other, out of nowhere even more Outlaws warriors emerged from their hiding places and started to fight off Leopold's men.

In the blink of an eye everything turned a mess and she was right in the middle of it; there were men all over the place and in her distress she could not tell who was friend and who was foe.

There were arrows flying all around, men were battling with swords or with their mere fists, there was even one with a spear and when she focused her eyes on him she saw it was one of The Outlaws.

She didn't know what to do or where to go, she was confused and at a complete loss.

"Go Regina, get out." That was Graham and taking a few steps away from them, she did as she was told.

So she moved, she knew Robin must be there somewhere and the idea of looking for him amidst all the commotion was disrupted when an arrow brushed her leg. She yelped, because even when it hadn't even touched her properly, it has been close.

It made her realize how dangerous it was out there and she knew that before thinking about finding Robin she had to look for someplace safe. It was then that she remembered the Church and Kristoff being there and she decided to head that way. She just hoped that Leopold wouldn't get to find Robin before she could warn him.

Along her way she saw in horror that Charming was fighting some young warrior, he was swinging his sword expertly but there were a couple of arrows sticking out of his back and she couldn't help but to think of Snow waiting in The Enchanted Forest for news of what happened. But there was nothing she could do about that so she decided to look away and keep running.

It was as she turned from that scene when it happened, she has been distracted so she didn't see him until she collided forcefully against him.

Then, before she could properly react or even come into full knowledge that she just ran into the King she felt it, a piercing stab at her side. She looked down in astonishment to see that there was a small dagger there and Leopold was holding it still inside of her.

Blinking slowly, she moved her hand towards it and touched the dagger touched where it met her flesh, her fingers came out bloodied and she held her hand in front of her face, not quite believing what was going on.

"You should had known better than to turn on me." He held her for a while and then he pushed her.

Regina staggered back and went down to knees. He went down with her, grabbing the dagger once again and pushing it even more into her.

"We could have been great. I could have made you into the greatest queen there ever was. It was our destiny, our path. Now you ruined it."

Her vision was blurring and she had problems focusing. Whiteness seemed to be taking all that surrounded her as an excruciating pain took over her.

She closed her eyes, wanting to give in, to let the whiteness take over her and carry her away. She could feel her life's essence slipping away from her and down her side; this was going to be it. She thought of her father, waiting for Graham to finally get her home, of her mother back in the Enchanted Forest, of her three ladies, all alone in this cruel world. But more than anything she thought of _him_, her favorite savage… and it saddened her that she would not get the chance to look at his face one last time.

It also made her feel overcome with anger over the fact that she was being robbed of her opportunity to live so she opened her eyes and clinging to that feeling she stared right into the Leopold's evil eyes.

"What have you done?" Regina recognized Rumple's voice and noticing how it edged in desperation she sneered. "This is not how it was supposed to go down! Now everything is lost."

"I had to do it. She gave me no choice.

Despite the excruciating pain, Regina tilted her head to see how Rumple was looking at them in horror while he pulled at his hair. "Everything is lost, everything!"

She wanted to say something, anything that would add to the realization that all his plans crumbled at his feet, but before the words could form in her mind an arrow came out of nowhere and implanted itself in Leopold's forehead.

She saw it out of the corner of her eye and turning fully to it she just watched with an eerie calmness as his lifeless body fell to the side. She wondered why did he get to die so quickly while she was left agonizing?

The Gods must hate her that even a quick death was denied to her.

As she mused about that, she felt someone grabbing her and lifting her up. The motion sent pain all over her body and she grunted her discomfort away. Pain forced her eyes closed and she listened to someone mumbling at her, she didn't understand a word.

"Regina, look at me."

Could it be death calling on her? Was it Rumple? She opened her eyes, and when she focused them she realized that no, it wasn't Rumple. The man didn't have such beautiful blue eyes.

Oh but she has seen those eyes before, she has seen them numerous times. Blinking, she lifted a hand and ran her fingers over his cheek. Then she closed her eyes and the light that came to her was not white, but black, and it swallowed her whole.

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

When Regina opened her eyes, everything spun dizzily around her. The sensation made her feel nauseous and for a wild second she was sure the room's proportions even started distorting under her gaze. She had to swallow the feeling down as she tried to focus the image before her.

The attempt to calm the need to throw up didn't go so with a grunt of displeasure she closed her eyes back again and just waited until the chamber settled back to stillness; but when a sense of normalcy finally came back to her she decided to keep her chocolate colored orbs shut, just in case.

It unsettled her, what she was feeling and she wondered if she was dead, after all she was having a strange sense of being both lightheaded and disoriented at the same time and she didn't know what to make of it.

It was while she wondered what was it that was happening that she came to realize that there was some vivid chattering around her, people talking in undistinguished voices that were too loud for her senses. She wrinkled her nose as if the mere action would make the noises fade out but no, the action served for nothing and even in her daze she concluded right then that she was definitely not dead.

Now it was up to be seen if that was a good thing or not.

Opening her eyes to slits she attempted to stand up, but way before she could even manage a sitting position a terrible pain snaked up to her side, forcing her back to the soft surface she had been resting upon. Her eyes closed automatically and she opened her mouth to complain about the discomfort, but the words died before they could roll out of her lips and only a raspy grunt came out.

"Well look who just woke up to accompany you in your agony." Came a woman's voice that she knew too well.

She opened her eyes and this time the room didn't move a bit, thankfully. For a while she just laid there, staring up at the ceiling as the pain on her right side kept on throbbing. She bit hard on her lower lip and took a deep breath, a futile attempt to lessen the pain.

She has been hurt with a dagger, she remembered now. She has been hurt by Leopold as she tried to escape the madness that had taken place back in the village. Of what she was not sure was on how bad the wound was.

It felt bad, but maybe it was that way because although she had helped with some wounded warriors back in the Enchanted Forest, the truth was that she has never been wounded herself and the sensation was overwhelming.

Her only solace was that Leopold was dead. Or so she hoped…

Breathing slowly, she lifted her left arm and ran her fingers through her cool brow, thinking that lack of fever was a good sign, at least she guessed so. Sure, the arm felt heavy and it trembled a bit, but at least she didn't think it was too bad… or that was until she tried to lift the right one. Because as she tried it an excruciating bolt of pain came over her and she had to shut her eyes once again as she groaned in pain.

"Try not to move much." The voice came again, this time closer. "It hurts like a bitch but you'll live through it. Here, drink this."

Regina felt the woman's hands on her, pulling her up into a sitting position while she grumbled. "What are you doing?" Her throat was dry, but the discomfort of speaking up was drowned by the pain that moving caused her.

Her glassy eyes flew open to find Emma in front of her, her clothes covered in blood as she neared a cup to her lips. She had no choice but to swallow its contents. The liquid was foul to the taste and the only thing that prevented her from retching was the thought that it would cause her too much pain to do so.

"What is that?" Regina asked trying not to gag.

"The hell if I know. These guys think I'm a damn healer, I have to fix you, I have to fix him…" She sighed. "I only know that it will lessen the pain away. Hook made it."

"I'll tell you what I know." Another voice said. With an effort she looked to the side and saw a pale looking Charming sitting on a bed next to hers, his back and part of his side was covered up with some bloodied gauzes and he was drinking out of a flask. "There's no way I'll ever drink anything Hook makes… or Ruby for that matter. This is doing the work just fine." He took another swallow and made a grimace.

"The only thing that would make you is drunk." Emma said and Charming shrugged.

"Better yet, that way I'll be unconscious when Snow kills me."

"Believe me, if she hasn't killed you yet, she's not going to do it over you getting hurt." Emma replied with a roll of her eyes while walking towards the man. Once at his side she took the flask and took a sip herself.

"That's what you say, but before we left she warned me that she was going to do it if I got hurt; it was going to be worse if I died."

The man talking was interrupted abruptly when the door banged open. The suddenness of it made Regina jump in surprise; it only provoked more pain. All at once she saw everything take place; Charming trying to get up only to fall back with a grunt, Emma reaching for a lance an assuming a fighting pose and two men entering the room, armed.

None of them really caught her attention like the man who sprung to his feet at the corner of the room. He has been sitting there in silence until the intruders appeared; she hadn't seen him until now.

"We came to take the Princess back to the castle in the name of the King." Kristoff and Graham hadn't seen him either and he took the opportunity to slide swiftly to them and catch them by surprise.

He grabbed Graham by the shirt and slammed him hard against the wall. "I don't think so." But as swiftly as he caught him, Kristoff approached him from behind and pressed his blade against the Outlaw's throat.

It all happened so fast, but as bad as that was it got even worse when Emma put the edge of her spear at the base of Kristoff's neck. "Put it down." The blonde said coldly.

A scene of madness was taking place in that room and it promised to end tragically, it made her put her pain to the side so she could try and intervene. "Robin, I'm not…" she closed her eyes for a moment and ran her fingers through her brow once more. "Let him go."

Her words only made Robin clench Graham even tighter, he didn't seem to mind the blade that menaced to cut through his skin.

"I said put it down or I'll make this go all the way through." Emma said more menacing this time.

"Well… why don't you put yours down or I'll slice _him_ open." Kristoff replied in the same manner, even though it sounded forced.

"Put it down Kristoff, I'm sure we can talk about this like civilized people." The man known as The Huntsman said and Kristoff backed away from Robin.

Emma followed suit and put her lance down too, but Robin kept his hold on man he had pinned against the wall.

"I didn't come here to fight you."

"Oh, and why did you come here for, ran out of allegiances to betray?"

"I never betrayed my allegiance with The Council. Everything you expected of me I delivered. But as I recall, last you sent of me was to go back to King Henry and offer wise counsel and help him keep his part of the Treaty. That's all I'm doing."

"Taking off with my wife was not part of The Treaty nor is it wise counsel."

Squinting her eyes at the way Robin used their marital status, Regina tried to accommodate herself. It was in vain, as she couldn't even move without hurting herself.

"Just let us take her back. You were about to send her to the castle anyway."

Regina observed expectantly. The first night Kristoff came to her she had told him about her situation with the Outlaws and their plans of sending her back as a way of keeping peace and she wondered if the man has been the one who reported that to Graham.

"When we decide to send her back I'll take her myself." Robin said in a low voice. "Go back to your King and tell him that." With that he let go of him and backed a few steps, he never took his eyes from the man.

Graham steadied himself and considered for a minute. He looked at Kristoff for a long while, communicating without words. "Pretty fair then, I'll just have a word with the Princess." He said and started to make his way to her. He didn't even managed two steps before Robin blocked his way.

"The door's at the other side."

Graham smiled. "Look, I'm trusting on your word here, the least you could do is let me pass and talk to her."

Robin remained unmoving, delving deep into the eyes of the man that came to help her when she has been in danger. "Be quick about it." He said before finally letting him pass.

Graham glanced back at Kristoff and nodded to him, the other man nodded back and walked out of the room. Once he was out Graham went to her and sat at her side. He grabbed her hand in his and leaned forward, talking to her so low that she had to lean to him to get to hear him.

"Regina, I think this might be the last time we'll see each other, so I want to give you something before I leave."

Regina shook her head. "What do you mean; I'll see you when I get back to the castle." Robin had said it; he had his mind set on sending her back to her father, only that he was going to do it himself.

She still had mixed feelings about that. She knew now that her father was willing to take her back, he even sent Graham to get her, and truth was she didn't know what to make of that.

He smiled to her. "I don't think that's ever going to happen, at least not in a long time."

Regina drew back a bit. Curiously the pain had diminished to a slight throb. Whatever Emma had given to her was really working.

"I don't understand." Regina said, but when Graham was about to reply a deafening shriek interrupted them. This time Charming managed to get to his feet, Emma lost her grip on the lance and Robin jumped a step back as a young woman with long strawberry blonde hair ran her way into the room.

Before Regina could do much as blink her shock away the woman jumped into the bed with her to embrace her in an asphyxiating hug.

It renewed her pain but she welcomed it. "How?" She asked as she hugged the woman back.

"Oh Princess I'm so glad to see you again, it was such a long journey and we had to ride so much and we came to this village and we meet these girls and I thought they were so nice until Kristoff told me they were whores, can you imagine? Oh and did you know that there are shapeshifters roaming in the night, as in regular people who can turn into wolves with a full moon? They are in the woods and even though we couldn't see one Ella was so scared but then Kristoff…"

"Ella's here too?" Regina asked as she took Anna's face between her hands to take a good look at her; it was as if she wanted to make sure it was really her. She looked the same, but so different at the same time. "How did you manage to convince her out of the castle?"

"She didn't have to, I wanted to come." Came the shy voice from the doorway. She looked in that direction and saw Ella with her huge eyes looking back at her. Belle was there too, standing next to Ella with a slight smile on her face.

"Is this even real?" Regina snorted as she covered her mouth with her hands. It didn't feel real and she wondered if whatever Emma gave her to drink was making her hallucinate. The throb on her side told her she wasn't, but she felt like it.

"It was written in the stars that we would meet again." Said Belle as she walked towards her.

Regina smiled as the two women that had grown up with her went to embrace her too. She felt silly, there she was, Gods only knew where, wounded and with a stupid smirk on her face. She had missed them and she told them so. Graham was still sitting with them as well so it made for a pretty crowded bed and she came to think that she has never been happier.

Sure, all of them were such an important part of her life but she has never told them so, she probably never showed it either and as her three ladies hugged her she reached for Graham's hand to squeeze it.

"You brought them all way here?" She said incredulous. "How could you sneak them out of the castle?"

"That's a long story you will never believe." Graham winked at her and Anna giggled.

Regina waited but the response never came and she knew that if Anna hadn't said anything there was small chance that the others would. She could push Ella to it, but she wasn't going to, at least not now.

"I brought you three, but I only mean to leave you two." Graham said and took Belle's free hand in his. The brunette bit hard on her lips, her cheeks flaming and her eyes casted down. It didn't take long for her to realize what was going on. "If you will, of course."

Her lips curved as she looked at each one of them in turns and she wondered how it was that she never saw that coming, and as she looked she heard Anna giggling.

"Well, what does Belle wants?" She asked at last.

"I want whatever pleases you, your highness." She responded, lifting her face so that she could look at her.

It had been long since anyone called her like that and a laugh escaped her lips. It died as a grunt when the motion bothered her wound. She leaned into Belle, the wisest and perhaps more mysterious of her ladies and kissed both her cheeks. "You are free to do as you please. But you," She looked at Graham. "You better take good care of her, you hear me?"

With Regina's response, the younger woman's eyes lighted up and she smiled before jumping forward to hug her. The moment was ruined though when Charmin cleared his throat loudly.

"I've never felt so out of place in my life, help me up Emma."

"Why don't you ask Robin?" The blonde complained with a scoff.

"Because you are family, you are Hook's woman-"

Groaning and slapping her forehead, Emma rolled her eyes. "Say that again and I'll have to kill you. God knows that I only refrain for Snow… but I'm this close."

Despite her words, Emma put his arm on her shoulders to help him walk to the door. Regina followed their progress with her gaze as they argued their way out of the room. Once they were gone her eyes rested on Robin. He was standing with his arms folded against his chest; his eyes fixed on hers, all of a sudden the room felt way too crowded.

Her three ladies were talking all at once in excitement but all her senses were focused on him. After all the events that had taken place there were a lot of things she wanted to say to him, things that she had realizes during their time apart, even when they had been there all the time.

"Girls, I bet there's a lot you want to catch up with the Princess, but she's hurt and needs her rest." Graham said getting off the bed.

Regina was too euphoric to rest, it all still felt like a dream, it was surreal, but she did want a talk with Robin. The three women protested, but they all kissed her and walked away. She made Graham promise her not to leave with Belle without saying their farewells.

Once they were alone Robin spoke directly to her for the first time. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm great." She said even though the pain was still there, bugging the hell out of her. But she did felt great, she was alive, her friends were there and most importantly, he was there.

"Great. Do you want anything, water?" He asked running his fingers through his stubble and for a moment there Regina thought he looked nervous.

No, she was the one who was nervous. "I'll have whatever Charming was drinking."

He snickered but went for it anyway. When he walked to her and handed her the flask she grabbed his hand instead and motioned him to sit at her side. He did, and once he was sitting there with her she took the flask and swallowed a sip.

It burned her throat and made her eyes water, it was an awful thing but at least it wiped from her mouth the foul taste of Hook's concoction. She coughed up and winced at the pain it brought to her, but when she was about to take another sallow Robin took the flask away.

"I think that's enough." He put it aside and turned to face her.

She had missed those eyes on her. She had been afraid of never getting the chance to look at them and now that they were on hers she could do nothing more than to stare back into them.

In fact she missed everything about him, his eyes were only the beginning. Her longing went to his lips and then down to his hands to the way his skin felt against hers. She had missed his voice and his scent and they way her body reacted to him.

"You scared the bloody hell out of me back there." He said taking her hand in his, she was too entranced with him to know what he was talking about. "When I saw you go down I thought that was it…"

"Don't take me back to the castle." She blurted out cutting him up. "I don't want to go back."

He looked down to where their hands joined. "Of course you do, you'll only be happy back there… I mean, look at how happy you were when your friends showed up. You'll never be content in The Enchanted Forest. It's for the best."

"I was happy because I missed them and it was good to see them, but if I were to be sent back I'll be unhappy because I wouldn't have you. I… I want to stay with you." The words slipped out of her lips effortlessly.

He looked up to her, his eyes holding something she didn't quite know, she kept on rambling. "I know you only want me out of necessity, but I don't care. I can help you with my mother, if you send her back instead I know she'll do fine. We can stick to the first Treaty, the one The Apprentice made."

"Regina-" He tried to say something but she was too wrapped up in her monologue.

"And now that Leopold's gone and my father is willing to make peace we can work things out. I can speak with the Council and maybe…"

"Regina, listen to me." He said with a severe tone and she had no choice but to shut her mouth and swallow her words.

That was it, he was going to tell her off. He didn't want her to stay with him, in fact he was glad to get rid of her and they were going to be over before they really started. She would have no choice but to leave her heart in The Enchanted Forest and go back to the castle to live a lonely live with her three… no two ladies along with her father.

She didn't want that life.

She took a deep breath, trying to prepare her heart for the blow that was to come. Somehow she knew this was going to hurt even worse than the stabbing had.

"When you were gone we thought you had escaped to join forces with Leopold. We were not informed of his plans nor were we aware of Zelena's betrayal and I just… we thought you went to him on your own. I still believed that until a few hours ago."

"It wasn't like that, I didn't-"

"Let me finish. The last couple of days I… well, I blamed you for The Apprentice's death and I wanted to hate you for it, I even thought I did. But when I watched you get wounded and go down it all flew away."

"I didn't went out on my own, I wouldn't have done that."

"I know that now, but since you told me very clearly that you wanted me dead last time we talked it was easy to believe everything Zelena planted on us."

She bit on her lips and blinked her eyes rapidly. She didn't knew why but thinking that Robin had hated her even if it was for the wrong motives made her chest tighten.

"I guess what I'm trying to say here is that I don't want to send you back either. Regina-"

She didn't think about it, she just acted on it. Even when it pained her to do so she sprung towards him and kissed him. He kissed her back but pulled away after a short while to look down on her throbbing wound.

"You are bleeding." He said looking back into her eyes. He was worried. "We should change that bandage."

"Let's worry about that later." She really didn't care. Earlier that day she had thought that she had never been happier than when the three ladies and Graham sat with her in that same bed, she had been wrong.

He wanted her to stay and that was the only thing that mattered now.

But then she remembered an important factor. "What about my mother?" She asked drawing back. She knew Cora could determinate her fate, but she also knew that without Leopold around she had no reason to strike an attack on The Outlaws, not if she was with them.

Robin leaned into her until their foreheads touched, his blue eyes glued to hers. "There are a lot of unfinished business here, Regina. Both Zelena and Rumplelstinskin escaped and then there's your mother. Once we settle this, sending you back is the best option."

"So that's it?" She asked, searching into his eyes.

"No, it will not be it. A lot of things can happen between now and then, but let's figure about that later." He smiled against her lips and brushed her hair behind her ear. "For now why don't you marry me?"

Despite her situation, a smile broke to her lips as well. "I think we already did that."

"Yeah?" He said before pressing his lips back to hers, this time they dwelled on it longer, deeper.

Kissing him back, the black haired woman thought about everything that has happened and who would have said that she, Princess Regina and supposed to be Queen to the most powerful King in all the Seven Kingdoms and beyond would end up falling head over heels with a Savage.

She never would have given it a second though when she first laid her eyes on him.

Since then so much had changed, she had changed. The world would never look the same to her eyes, everything was different. Too much had been lost, too many lives taken away and many left broken; but then again there was still so much more to gain. The future could be promising and who knew, maybe after all she would get her happily ever after…


	16. Chapter 16

Taking in a deep breath that sent a dull pang of pain to her right side, Regina allowed the different scents that danced all over the open field to invade her senses. Those she was taking in were the smells of freedom, of wild flowers and moist grass and everything she had thought lost. Those were the smells she wanted impregnated on her skin as they were now in her soul; and as she was taken once again into that land she had once upon a time dreaded, she made sure to enjoy all of them.

She wanted to take it all into her memory, to take the images, the smells and everything that marked that moment so that she could forever remember it.

So with that thought in her mind, the young woman that was long ago a princess among her people threw her head back, she threw it back until it collided against the man behind her and only then she remained still.

Robin… he was the sensation her body craved the most, and as her back molded to his torso and her head rested against his shoulder, she closed her eyes and got lost in the moment.

"Are you feeling alright?" His voice caressed her check and she tried to get even closer to him… to feel more than his warm breath on her skin.

She wanted it all.

"I am." She responded in a low whisper, even when physically she wasn't feeling her best. Her wound was throbbing as the horse moved onward and she was beyond cold. But that was secondary; what was a bit of discomfort to a jolly heart?

Not satisfied with her response and perhaps feeling her slightly trembling, he wrapped tighter and around her the thick coat that was supposed to guard her from the bitter cold, through that same fabric he rubbed the length of her arms, the friction warming her some.

With a smile touching her lips, she opened her eyes, wanting to see through the curtain of rain the scenario in front of them. It felt like Déjà vu, she and her favorite savage sharing one horse, the sky broken and sending rain their way as they approached his ever imposing Enchanted Forest…

In some odd way it felt the same, but so much had changed since that first time, she had changed.

"This feels like a fairy tale turned into a macabre dream. I mean I can see The Enchanted Forest from here, but as we ride on the farthest I see it… maybe I shouldn't have so much to drink"

Regina felt rather that heard Robin chuckle, his body rocking slightly against hers as his horse carried them on in a slow but steady pace.

"You would have drank even more if you knew Snow was going to be waiting for you midway."

"What?" Came the strangled voice of Robin's country man and fellow Council member.

Regina turned her head a bit to the side and saw the pale face of Charming looking into the distance, his eyes were half closed as he strained to see the way ahead of him.

He didn't seem alright, through his damp clothes she could spot his wounds as they were bleeding again; his face was the color of ash and if Robin had adopted a slow pace for her sake, Charming was even slower.

She couldn't comprehend how he was riding in the first place; his condition was not the best.

Before chaos broke loose and all went to hell in that village, Charming was probably the only member of the Council she hadn't gotten to know well, but when both of them got injured in the same battle and nursed in the same place, she had gotten to know him a little bit more.

She liked him just fine, he acted a bit odd at times and more often than not wandered off in his speech, but overall he seemed like a nice man and Robin seemed to be fond of him as well.

The day they got wounded was two days past and after all was cleared up and the euphoria of the battle dwindled down, the two of them were left behind while everyone else went back to The Enchanted Forest. Only herself, Charming and Robin remained behind and now they were making their way back as well.

"I can't see her, does she look mad?" The blond man asked.

"Indeed she does, mate; maybe she'll finish you up for good."

Regina looked ahead, there was indeed someone riding their way. She couldn't see who it was until she was close enough for her to see her clearly, and when they were at reaching distance Snow dismounted and walked his way.

Now Regina couldn't say she looked mad and she could assure without a doubt that the last thing in the other woman's mind was to finish Charming off.

"Snow." Charming whimpered as the woman walked towards him. He dismounted as well, emitting a few grunts while doing so. "I got wounded, but I can explain." He finally said, his tone apologetically and worn out.

Regina watched as the two reunited, Charming apologizing for some reason as Snow threw herself at him. The act seemed to provoke pain in the man but he didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her and when she kissed him he kissed her back.

"Well… she doesn't look mad to me. Come on, let's leave these two lovebirds and get going." Robin said and Regina smiled faintly.

That way, leaving them behind so they could write their own story, Robin and Regina kept moving along under the chastising rain, getting closer and closer to the place she thought she was never going to see again.

"You are quiet." Regina said after some time, breaking the silence that ruled over them.

"I have my mind going through some things."

"Bad things?"

He took a deep breath before leaning forward to kiss her cheek. "I hope not."

Regina didn't push the matter and rejoiced in the mere fact that they were there, together at last. With Leopold gone and the menace of the Kingdom out of the picture there was nothing to keep them apart now.

Now it was her time, the conclusion of a story that began all kinds of wrong and which effects were still affecting them. But none of that mattered; only the ones lost and for that she was deeply sorry.

After some time of traveling under the rain, they finally arrived to The Enchanted Forest. It was a cold morning and the streets of that great city were deserted; only Grumpy guarded the gates and he himself took care of the horse.

Dismounting caused a bolt of pain to run all over her body, starting at her wound and shooting in all directions; but now that she was back to her wobbly feet she held onto Robin and together they made it to his place, their place.

"Look at you, you look like a soaked trembling rabbit." Robin said taking off her the coat once they were in the solitude of the house.

"Why thank you." She responded, trying to control her trembling, not because of what he said, but because the jerky movements were bothering her wound.

It seemed like the effect of Emma's healing concoction were already wearing off.

But again, that was secondary in her mind and when he attempted to check the reminder of Leopold's wicked antics, she took his hands away and darted forward to kiss him on the lips.

He responded to her, his hand moving all the way up until it rested against her cheek, his thumb caressing her skin as the kiss grew more intimate.

This is what she had missed the most, his touch, his lips… all those nights were nothing else mattered but them.

"Regina… I need to check that wound." He mumbled against her lips, his own lips curving into a smile as his hand moved to the back of her head.

"It's still there." She responded as she closed her eyes, a smile in her face and her hands resting over his chest.

This was something they didn't have before, they had their fair share of nights together where inhibitions were forgotten, but other that raspy moans and words tore in the brink of passion they were silent nights.

Who would have thought back in that day when she lay eyes on him for the first time that they were going to end like they did, their destiny intertwined in such a way that she rather stay in that far away country with him that go back to the comforts of the castle.

It didn't surprise her, she was not the same Regina that ran into the forest that faithful day so long ago… in her past life.

"I know it's still there, I just need to make sure it's not infected before I go."

Her eyes flew open and she found his blue eyes staring deep into hers. "Go? Where are you going?" The last time he went away things didn't go well.

Without taking his eyes away from hers and with his other arm circling her waist, Robin ran his fingers through her hair. "I need to resolve some issues with the Council."

"Can't it wait? You just got back." She said, trying to hide the desperation in her voice because she really didn't want him to go.

"This can't wait." He said and before she could reply he lifted her shirt and inspected her wound.

Regina watched him in silence, her eyes blinking and her mind racing as he went with his inspection. What was so important that it couldn't wait?

They were finally here, together and now he was leaving to go to the Council? She knew that as a member of it he had lots of responsibilities, but all she wanted was for him to stay with her for a while.

"You are not bleeding and it doesn't seem infected, but it's still fresh and I imagine it still hurts. I'll send Emma to keep you company… or do you want your friends instead?"

She would rather have him, but did it matter? "Is it really important what you have to do at the Council?"

He looked back at her and cupped her face in his hands. "It is important and I don't want to postpone it"

"It is about the war?"

"It's about you, about you staying here and what we'll do with your mother. Last time the plan was to send you back and keep her here. You know I don't have a final say in such matters and I want to propose a change of plans."

At his words, Regina bit on her lips and closed her eyes. "What if they don't want to change it?" She hadn't thought about that, for her it was a matter that she wanted to stay and he didn't want to send her away… for a moment she had forgotten that things didn't work like that, not when it came to her.

That's why her father was King, what he wanted was what everyone would do, he didn't have to rely on others.

But she knew her father, as great as he was made a few bad choices that cost the Kingdom dearly, both his daughter and wife were caught by his sworn enemies, his manpower was defeated and scattered all over the place and the Kingdom was reduced to a half of what it once was…

That was without mentioning that his daughter wanted to spend the rest of her days with a man he thought a savage without the intention of going back home.

"That's why I need to go there, Regina."

"I don't want to go back." She said and as she finished talking he kissed her lips lightly.

"Then wait for me here. I'll send your friends, take a warm bath, rest and eat something. I'll be back before you know it."

She tried to smile but it came out as a pout. She didn't want him to go, but most of all she didn't want to go…


	17. Chapter 17

Regina sat at the edge of the bed, the effects of the new concoction she just consumed blurring her senses and the delicate way Ella was brushing her hair lulling her hectic mind into a more tranquil state.

She felt as if she was floating instead of sitting; the voice of Ana relating excitedly about their journey out of the castle mingling with the memories of her own journey. But even when she felt a little bit off, she could at least take comfort in the fact that the pain of her wound had subsided into a slight throb.

It didn't hurt… the reminder of what could have happened in that village was now just a nuisance that prevented her to move at will.

But even though that magical liquid relaxed her ail and half her senses, her mind was still clear enough to wonder; she was eager for Robin to come back to the house with a definite response. Was she going back to the castle or was she staying in The Enchanted Forest with him?

She wanted to stay and that made the wait seem longer. It felt as if he has been gone for an eternity and to make matters worse there was no sign of him coming back any time soon.

Her mind couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. For all she knew the Council was now deciding the matter of when and how she was going to be sent off.

"… and The Enchanted Forest is so big and splendid! Nothing like the books at the castle depicts. Do you think our teacher knows about this? He needs to change those books and by the Gods, can you believe Snow knew who I was? She's so pretty. The injured one, Charming is very lucky to have her… she is too, he's so handsome! Oh and your Lord husband is very handsome as well! I can't believe you married a Savage, and what a Savage. I still can't decide if he's too serious or too mysterious but that doesn't matter, I just know that if Kristoff looked at me the way he looks at you I would have swooned."

"Anna." Ella called in a soft whisper and Regina couldn't help but to smile; Anna just beamed, probably unaware that all her talking was apt to drive anyone insane.

She didn't mind much, all that was a good reminder that her ladies hadn't changed much and she was glad that at least something remained the same in a changing reality where nothing was what it seemed. She was sure the Gods had sent them from a world far away to be her constants.

If only Belle could be there as well she would have liked things even better, but that was something she didn't have control over and even if she knew she was going to miss her, she understood that just like herself, the young woman found a different path that would hopefully lead her to happiness. She was trusting Graham in that one.

As she mused about that, Anna stopped her pacing through the room and knelt in front of Regina. "Princess, can we stay here? Please. I want to become a warrior."

Taken aback by the request, Regina blinked slowly and looked down at the woman who was staring back at her with eyes huge as plates. "A warrior? Where did you get that idea from?"

"On our way from that village to get here, Belle and I counted three women who fought in the battle. I want to be like them."

The black-haired shook her head in a combination of amusement and bewilderment but intending to give no hard time to the woman in whichever path she wanted to follow.

The Enchanted Forest was a strange land that offered so many possibilities and if Anna's desire was to become a warrior she had no way to stop her. Sure, she couldn't see the more friendly of her friends following that path but none of her ladies' lives were hers to command, those days were over and she could do as it pleased her.

Everything was different in The Enchanted Forest.

With that in mind, she extended her hand and offered it for Anna to take. "If we stay here you can do whatever you want to do, be a warrior, marry whoever you want to marry-"

"Ella too?" Anna asked in a high pitched voice and remained with her mouth hanging open until Regina spoke.

"Yes, Ella too. You have the same choice Belle had, which is following your heart, wherever it may take you."

Anna clapped her hands and laughed, but then her mood went sour and her laughter died with a shrug. "I'm not going to marry; the Gods have doomed me to remain forever alone in a world where everyone has someone to love." She added dramatically.

Regina stared at her, thinking that if her lady was doomed not to find love then what was she? She did find it but was on the verge of being sent away from it.

"She only says that because she thinks Kristof doesn't want anything to do with her." Ella said, putting the hairbrush down and getting up to her feet.

Anna gasped as her eyes followed Ella's movements to the door of the room. "What do you mean by 'she thinks he doesn't want anything with her?' Did he say something to you? Because to me he has said nothing, nothing!"

The blonde haired woman smiled softly, and while she did so Regina opened her mouth to ask if she was going to stay in The Enchanted Forest too. But before she could begin to form the words, she heard the front door opening and she was immediately at a loss for words.

"Come on Anna, I think our time here is up."

Regina took a deep breath that was supposed to calm her apprehension and before Anna could even get to her feet Robin was already at the door of the room.

The numbness she was feeling disappeared when her eyes found his, the intensity of that blue stare only for her. "Oh, I didn't know you still had company. I'm going to wash, ladies." He said, his tone calm and even before he turned around and walked into the washroom.

"I love how he talks, these savages are something else." Anna sighed dreamily and only when Ella grabbed her by the arm to drag her out she came back to her. The two of them walked out and the Princess knew that the least she would have done was to show them out of the house. But even if her wound would allow her to, she would still be too preoccupied with Robin and what he had accomplished at the Council to do anything other than remaining there.

Once they left, with a lot of care as to not hurt herself she got up and with her left hand she pulled the robe that covered her frame tighter. While Robin was at the Council, her former ladies had prepared for her a warm scented bath and after finally emerging from it she found herself feeling better but too worn out to dress properly.

Not that it mattered; the only thing that mattered was Robin and whatever news he carried.

Wanting to know what happened, she took a few steps away from the bed and bit at her lower lip. What if she had to go back? She had pleaded to the Gods to take her back to the castle so many times that they might have listened. If that was the case then her destiny was chosen.

Taking a deep breath, she made the rest of the way to the washroom and rested the palm of her hand against the wooden door that separated her from the man inside. Her intention was to push it and go in, but for some reason she took her hand away and did nothing.

Why was everything so complicated? Her life used to be so easy and look at how it was now. Now everything was a mess and she felt as if her hands were tied up so she couldn't make them right.

After standing there for some time in which she could neither go into the room nor go back the way she came, the door finally slid open and she was met once again with the imposing figure of Robin.

"What did they say?" She asked as soon as she was able to.

From his part, Robin quirked his lips and looked down at her, focusing his eyes on hers. His hair was damp and his torso naked, a scent of freshness clinging on to him and invading her almost dormant senses. "And why are you out of bed?"

"I wanted to ask you about the meeting." She whispered, the two of them still standing under the frame of the door.

His bright blue eyes moved away from her own eyes and lowered to her robe. "You should stay in bed until you heal." He said, his fingers moving to open the thin fabric that covered her frame so he could once again inspect her wound.

It was covered, after her bath Ella put some anointments over it and covered it; that combined with the concoction she drank was minimizing her pain. She didn't need to be in bed, what she needed was to know about her fate.

"What did they say?" She asked again while looking at him, feeling very conscious that her robe was still open and his eyes were on her. She had nothing underneath that robe and even though he has not only looked but also touched and in some occasions even kissed everything that was now exposed, she felt kind of self-conscious about him looking at her like he was doing.

That was all he did though, as he made no attempt of touching her.

"Nothing. I need Snow and Charming to be at the table before this could be voted on and they were not; the motion is there, now we just need to wait."

Regina took a deep breath. Snow and Charming… she was not so naïve as most people thought she was and she was aware that if there was a pair who would object on letting her mother go were the two of them. It was not like she blamed them, after all her parents' actions caused a lot of damage to Snow and consequentially to Charming as well.

Then there was Hook and Ruby and well, she didn't see good things coming out of what awaited.

Strategically speaking, it made no sense to liberate her mother so there was a huge chance that they all were going to vote against it.

As leaders to a country she could see their reasons, but she didn't care about politics and such nonsense; her mind was clouded and biased for Robin, she only wanted to be with him.

She took the remaining steps that kept her away from him and leaned against him; resting her forehead on his chest.

He responded by wrapping his arms around her and burying his nose into her hair, bringing her as close as he could get her. "You shouldn't worry about that now; the only thing you should do is to get lots and lots of rest."

Regina lifted her head slightly and kissed his chest; then she slowly dragged her lips up to his collar bone and finally to the tender spot of his throat.

"Regina. That wound won't heal if you don't let it rest." He began to say, his tone coming of as if in a warning.

She didn't care what his tone was so she just rose on her tiptoes and allowed her fingers to run smoothly over the naked flesh of his stomach while her lips took a new journey into his mouth, finding it welcoming and pleasant.

Despite his words he kissed her back, his hands cradling her head as the meeting of lips turned into something more intimate and deeper, the contact of flesh against flesh adding to the sensation.

It felt good to have him so close.

Back at the village she thought she was never going to indulge into such amazing pleasures as having him so near, kissing her as their bodies molded together. Now she had him back but there was a huge possibility that it might be momentarily.

That only made her want to cling to him as long as she could.

But way before things could escalate in intensity he pulled away and scoffed. "Regina, I'm serious. I don't want to hurt you."

"You will not hurt me."

"Let's just-" He took her hand and guided her to the bed, making her get on it. She did, watching as he climbed as well, positioning himself at her side.

For a brief moment she thought he was going to kiss her and maybe do more than that, but he just lay on his side and caressed her hip absentmindedly as his eyes fixed on hers.

She reciprocated the way he was looking at her and lifting a hand she ran her knuckles against his cheekbones. It was as they stared deep into each others eyes that she knew that she needed to be prepared for the worst.

"Will we remain married even if I have to go?" She asked taking his hand in hers. She lifted it up and studied the way their fingers looked intertwined together. "What if some loyalist find a way to say this was invalid? I mean we married here and I have to be honest, they don't recognize your laws or your God and I don't think they want their King's daughter married to an outsider."

Robin brought their hands to his lips and kissed hers. "No matter where you are and what Gods you stand in front of, you will be mine for all eternity."

Regina wrinkled her nose and chewed on her lips. She didn't know if she was too much under the effects of the concoction or if she was just feeling too sensitive about the fact that they would probably have to part ways, but what he said made her eyes water and she had to blink the feeling away. "Even if I cross the sea and go into unknown lands far, far away?"

Robin snorted, his fingers tracing lazy circles over her skin. "Even if you find a way to travel all the way to the moon."

At his words she hummed and considered things. "Then we should do that, let's get out of here and go far away where there is none of this madness and no Kingdom to worry about."

"Now you are being silly. I have my duties here, you have yours and we can't run from those. Besides, there's no need for that, one way or another things will go our way here. There is that and there is the fact that I don't think you could handle being away from your comforts and your scented baths." As if to prove his point he leaned into her and inhaled her scent.

"I can." She said as a matter of fact. "You dragged me out of the comforts of my castle to bring me here and I survived just fine." Her statement came a bit petulant, she knew he was just trying to make the situation be more light, but she was being serious.

"Yes, and we both know how well you dealt with it. You were such a spoiled, conceited _Princess_."

Regina arched an eyebrow and looked at him, getting lost in the blue depths of his eyes as he stared back at her. Her journey to The Enchanted Forest hadn't been her most pleasant experience and no, she hadn't exactly been easy to deal with, but because she has been torn out of her home she was in every right in the world not to act polite.

"Well, the truth is that maybe I acted like that because I was terrified of you." She confessed. "I feared you would do something very horrible to me while at the same time I felt inexplicably drawn to you."

"Did you now?" He asked, his interest picking up. "I was quite sure you hated my guts."

"Oh I did, you did kidnap me after all. And you were definitely not the most affable person I've ever met. You were actually kind of a jerk."

His lips curved into the phantom of a smile. "What can I say? That's part of my charm."

She rolled her eyes.

"Perhaps I was a tad cutting with you, you were the enemy and well, I have to say that from the very beginning I knew that you were going to bring me so much trouble. I was not wrong."

"I don't want to go." She breathed out as she snuggled against him. "Not without you."

Robin kissed her forehead and sighed. "We'll figure this out, we just have to wait."

She nodded, then she brought his face closer and kissed him, her lips silently parting a way so that her tongue could break into his mouth to deepen the kiss.

He allowed her passage and even started to take control of the situation, kissing her deeper and making her head spin. He always did that to her no matter how many times he would kiss her.

After a couple of minutes he pulled away. "Try to get some rest."

"No." She wanted to make the best of whatever time they had left. Who knew, if at the end of it all she was sent away she didn't want to say that she wasted her last days with him resting. "You won't hurt me if you are careful."

"See, you are so much trouble." He said, but after those words he went back to kissing her and just like she asked, he was extremely careful not to hurt her. That night they only cared about each other, giving into one another while being completely unaware of the storm that was coming their way…


	18. Chapter 18

It has been decided; after pondering about it and scrutinizing the possible consequences that her acts may ensue, the young woman who in a past life has been the princess to one of the greatest Kingdoms there has ever been came to the conclusion that she was not going to give another day to idleness and endless waiting.

She had wasted more than a few days doing nothing but waiting her fate to be decided and she couldn't take it any longer.

She may no longer be a princess in that far away land, but she was still her father's daughter and she refused to sit around while there were many things to do.

Things that she could do to help her situation.

True, Robin told her to wait and leave everything for him to resolve, but as days kept passing by and there was no response she decided to act on her own.

She had thought about it, going over it while in the solitude of her chambers, thinking about it when he was away to his duties and the only company she had were her incessant thoughts; and sometimes, when she had the company of her ladies she thought about it too, her mind wandering away with the many possibilities left to do.

All that thinking had served for nothing, so now it was her time to act.

That was why after waking up to an empty bed she deemed the time to be right. She dressed in her best, preparing herself the way she did when she was at her father's castle. She wanted to look like a Princess, something she forgot how to be but knowing full well that she could still pull off the appearance.

So she bathed in scented waters to relax, she combed her hair to perfection and once she was dressed, ready and satisfied with the results in the mirror glass she ventured outside her home.

The house she now shared with Robin was not far from the historic Council building but she hurried her steps anyway. She didn't want to get interrupted and she didn't want to encounter someone in her way that could reduce her resolution into nothing.

If she didn't act now she may never get the courage again.

So she walked not looking and hoping not to be looked upon, by the time she finally made it to the building her heart was racing rapidly inside her chest and she had to take a deep calming breath to get it back to normal.

'_I am my mother's daughter and she taught me not to show fear.'_ She recited in her mind as she closed the distance between herself and the door that lead to the room she dreaded and at the same time wanted to get in so much.

Breathing in, she went back in memory lane and remembered all the times her mother would scold her as a little girl for being weak and she made a mental note of applying everything the woman had imposed on her as part of her 'grooming', as she liked to call it.

All those lectures and long lessons about walking tall, straight posture, chin up and projecting herself as if she owned the world could come handy now, because if there was something she was aware of was that she couldn't come of as tentative or insecure about what she wanted.

She needed to come strong or go home so straightening her back she keep going on.

The walk felt eternal, it was as if time was dragging and she felt like she was being held on, making her progress even more slowly, but she still kept going forward.

Once she got into the building, she noticed that there was no one guarding the door and after taking another deep breath she took the liberty of opening that huge barrier that kept her away from her future and went straight in.

Now, The High Five's chambers… It wasn't the first time Regina found herself in that room but it was the first time she witnessed the whole Council reunited there at the same time. She could see them all sitting around their table and looking at her, each one of them probably wondering why was she there.

Especially since she made no appointment and didn't even knock.

She could feel all their eyes on her and refusing to let that intimidate her, she kept her chin up and scanned the scene in front of her.

It only took her one brief look to memorize the order they were sitting. The circle started with Ruby and continued with a much better looking Charming, then Snow, Robin and finally Hook.

She nodded lightly, a courtesy that she didn't have to make but that gave her some time to gather her courage back because yes, even thought she wouldn't let it show, having them all there was kind of overwhelming; after all, together they had the power to decide her future and that wasn't something to take on lightly.

Sure, that was also something she knew before getting there, she knew what she would encounter but now that she was there and they were all looking and waiting, she was at a loss for words.

"Sweet Princess Regina, I see you are recuperating well of your wounds. That's good to see."

That was Hook, she could recognize all their voices without having to see their faces.

"I am, thank you very much." Proud that her voice came out strong and steady, she fought hard against the urge of biting the inside of her cheek. She didn't do it, what she did was focus her eyes on the dark haired man.

"So what brings you here?" He asked, going straight to the point.

As the question was left in the air, Regina could feel the weight of Robin's stare heavy on her… it almost made her choke with her untold request.

He had no idea that she has been planning that visit to the Council and knowing him as she now did, she would bet that he wasn't happy about it. If anything, that made her feel insecure about the whole thing.

But she didn't let that show, what she did was lift her chin even more and because Hook has been the one to ask she kept her gaze fixed on him. He called her Princess and she wanted to act like it, after all that was what she was… or has been before they took her into this new life.

"I wish to be allowed to see my mother; I came here to put a request for it." Her voice came even and she was proud that it didn't crack.

Yes, if she wanted to stay in The Enchanted Forest she needed first to convince Cora of parting ways with the country in good terms, she knew the Council wouldn't let her go as long as they considered her a threat and she hoped that if there was someone who could talk some sense into the woman it was her.

After all she was her daughter, she had known her all her life and she thought she knew how to appeal to her. Yes, the woman was proud and haughty to a fault but she really didn't think she was an evil person as Leopold has been.

Maybe, if she used those faults she had she could get to her. The woman had to understand that even though everything she had wanted for her daughter fell apart, not everything was lost. It was obvious that she wasn't going to be Queen, but she could be the one person who united both The Kingdom and The Enchanted Forest and if sold the right way, her mother could even see that as a huge deal.

Power was what her mother desired more and the feat she was getting into was something no one has ever done before. If that wasn't powerful, she didn't know what it was.

Besides, she wanted to believe that even though cold and detached, that deep inside her mother did love her and she wanted to think as well that if she was to stay in The Enchanted Forest with her husband, Cora wouldn't prepare retaliation and put her in harms ways.

So there was that, and then there was also a big part of her that just wanted to see her mother, to talk to her and make sure that she was alright.

So that was her plan, talk with her mother and then appeal to the Council again, stating why she should stay and why should Cora go, just like in the first Treaty.

"The Queen is a prisoner of The Enchanted Forest; she is not to receive visits."

Regina slowly moved her eyes to the one who just talked to her. If it has been any other member of the Council she would have replied with anything that could make them cede, she had thought about all the possible sceneries and them refusing was one of them.

That was why she had memorized all the pros and the cons about her seeing her mother and she was ready to debate them.

But the one who spoke was Robin and his cold refusal took her a little bit aback, after all the principal reason she was requesting to see her mother was because she wanted to stay in there with him.

He knew that and she could say something to remind him of that, but the way he was just sitting there, expressionless and looking back to her with those cold blues of his made her desist.

She just didn't know what to say.

"We'll consider your request." Snow said and with the same expression Robin was looking at her she looked at the woman.

"Thank you." With that she turned around and as if in a trance she walked out.

She walked out the same way she came in, gracefully like only one of her lineage could; but this time as she stepped out of the building the sun felt too bright into her eyes, the ongoing noises to loud to her ears and it was suddenly too much. All she wanted to do was to go back to the house and lay in bed.

Perhaps that would be the only way to calm the sea of emotions boiling deep within her being. She was mad because she did so much planning for nothing; she was sad because she didn't get to see her mother and there was a dull feeling of devastation eating her entrails after Robin refused her request without even considering it.

It made her want to tear up and cry her way to the house.

Sucking in a breath she wiped at her eyes. She was not going to cry in public, there would be time for that once in the solitude of her room. Then by the time Robin returned she would be calmed down.

"Regina."

She heard the voice and almost froze, but then she kept onward, wanting him to disappear. Maybe if she made it to the house Anna and Ella were staying she wouldn't have to face him in that moment… maybe even to Emma's who was closer.

"Regina."

She felt him grab her arm to make her turn and she took yet another deep breath when facing him.

"What the bloody hell was that?" He asked in a hiss, his eyes digging into hers.

"I don't want to talk about it here." She responded coldly. In fact, she wasn't sure if she ever wanted to talk about it anywhere.

She needed time to think and to cope with it all and then she could think if what happened there was worth talking with him.

Without speaking, he guided her into his house and once they were both inside and the door was closed to the world he asked again. "Why did you do that?"

Regina lifted her chin, her emotions controlled. "I told the Council already, I wanted to see my mother so if you are not giving me a response to my request I don't want to talk about it." Her voice cracked a little and she made up for that by sending him a defying look.

"Your mother is not in a hostel Regina, you can't just…"

"I know that! I know she's a prisoner and I know I obviously have no rights here to be asking for special favors." She scoffed. "I mean who would have thought but apparently marrying into the Council doesn't mean anything."

"Regina." Blinking a few times, he ran a hand through his hair. It was something he would do when he was getting exasperated and wanted to hold it. "You know I don't control the Council and I can't just humor each one of your whims just because you feel the need to act all spoiled."

That made her gasp. Her whims… she has never asked for anything and yet there he was saying she was spoiled. Taking in a deep breath, she tried to calm down. "I know you don't control the Council, but you, you were the one who refused my request without even considering it."

"You gave me no option there." With a shrug, he said simply, no other explanation.

"You know, now that I think about it all, it looks to me like my mother is not the only prisoner here."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" At her words, Robin's expression became somber, Regina noticed but she kept going just the same. She was frustrated she was upset and he didn't give her time to arrange all those emotions.

"You brought me here by force and I still did everything your Council wanted, I signed all the papers you gave me to sign, I accepted everything you threw my way and all for what? For you to say I'm spoiled and so that I could be denied one simple request?" She wiped at her eyes again, this time finding wetness in her face.

She hadn't wanted to cry.

The muscles of his jaw tensed. "You are not a prisoner here. You can walk away anytime you want to."

Registering the meaning of his words, she swallowed on dry and without giving it a second thought she shrugged. "Well maybe I will and save you the trouble of dealing with my little whims. I mean that's probably what you want since I haven't seen you trying to keep me here."

Now, why did she say that, she didn't know because in all fairness of being honest, she knew he has been working on ways to let her stay in The Enchanted Forest. Also, she didn't want to walk out. Actually, that was the last thing she wanted. She wanted to stay and what she did was in hopes that she could remain there with him…

But what she wanted differed greatly from what she said and once the words were out she didn't rush to take them back. She just stood there, looking defiantly into his eyes as a ominous silence took over their surroundings.

Now, was that their first argument? Hell no, and perhaps it was not even their worse, but somehow, someway, this one made her feel a sense of emptiness within her being that she couldn't really understand.

"You know that's not what I want so don't use it as an excuse; if leaving this place is what you really want then I won't hold you here."

As he said that, she wanted to tell him that no, that she didn't want to go, but when she willed her lips to speak he was already gone...


	19. Chapter 19

Waiting, that black and narrow isthmus between two eternities…

Regina has been forced to wait in solitude that day, and while she waited in the seclusion of her rooms time flowed slowly, cruelly stretching itself to limits beyond her comprehension until she started to believe that all her waiting was a method of punishment inflicted by her half forgotten Gods.

She must have displeased them when she walked away from them and embraced the ways of the Outlaws, that they were punishing her now by distorting the flow of time was only the repercussions they had deemed proper to her infidel actions.

But she didn't care about those punishing Gods thousands of leagues away; by marrying in front of the strange God that ruled over The Enchanted Forest her old ones had lost the authority over her. Now she only cared for one thing and that thing was for Robin to come back to her.

She has been waiting for him since the moment he closed the door behind his back and walked away; creating an enormous barrier between the two that to that moment hasn't been broken yet.

It was all wrong; this was not the way she wanted things between them to turn into. But it did, he walked out on her, leaving her behind with a thousand words stuck in her throat and a stormy sea menacing to flow through her eyes.

From the moment the sound of the closing door resonated through the room time began to consume itself slowly, making her minutes feel excruciatingly long and her hours eternal. Unfortunately, even though a whole day had passed by, from what she could see her wait was not over yet.

While she drowned in her regrets the sun moved east to west and it was by now resting behind the mountains, darkness has taken over the land and because her never ending waiting had been slowly starting to drive her mad she decided to walk out in need of fresh air.

Now she sat outside, right in front of the elaborated fountain that rose in the middle of the plaza, the soft breeze of the night caressing her skin wildly as she stole glances towards the house, hoping to catch a glimpse of him coming back.

"You are going to get yourself ill worrying over nothing. He's going to be back."

Regina drew in a deep breath that a second later escaped though her lips and looked at the woman sitting by her side.

Her idea of walking out of the house has been to breathe fresh air and to put some kind of order to her thoughts in a scenario where the walls wouldn't close around her; but then Emma spotted her and walked to her and she ended up telling her everything that went wrong that day.

"What if he doesn't come back?" She has thought about that possibility. What if he was so mad at her that he was by now planning her journey back to the castle?

The way she saw it he could be making the arrangements to send her away any time now and no, he wouldn't even had to present to do so. Meaning that she could as well never see him again.

As if reading the brunette's thoughts, Emma shook her head. "He will, you just wait and see. I mean he has to come back to sleep at some point doesn't he?" The blonde smiled and turned to her side so that she could face Regina.

"Not necessarily. I mean he was really, really mad." Blowing out a breath she bit the inside of her cheeks. "Do you think what I did was so bad?" Because she didn't think so. What she said to him afterwards was definitely out of place but she honestly didn't think that going to the Council and request something was that bad.

"Listen, I'm going to tell you something your wet nurse never told you; men are the simplest creatures that walk over land. You only need to be around them for a short while to figure them out and when you can compare you realize they all follow the same pattern, they all want to be in charge of everything. It's easy, they like to be the ones in control so in his mind it's totally normal to get mad after seeing you walk into that building without his knowledge."

Regina turned to her side as well so that she could look at the other woman's face. "I didn't mean for him to get mad, I just wanted to help."

"I know, but in his little man's brain he doesn't see it that way so don't you dare tell him what you wanted to achieve by seeing your mother. He will see it as you not having faith in him and that will do no good to his frail male ego."

Frowning because that made no sense to her, Regina cleared her throat.

"Now, you don't need to worry because as easy as it is figuring them out, it's easier to get them back in good graces with you."

The young woman shifted her position in anticipation; she wanted to get back in good graces with Robin. The mere thought of him being mad at her was upsetting for her, it made her mind race in a dozen directions and none of them were favorable for her.

"What should I do?"

"Alright." The blonde said cheerfully. "You are one foot in the right direction because you have that man enchanted. Ever since I saw the two of you enter the tavern I could tell that he fancied you, I mean I've known him for a long time and like I told you, men are easy to figure out. Anyway, since you already bedded him I'll go straight to the point with this, you only need to do one little thing that will make him go softheaded for you and forget about everything…"

"Ladies." Regina's eyes moved away from the woman and directly to the dark haired man that just sat behind her. He had a huge grin on his face as he wrapped his arms around Emma. "What a wonderful night to encounter two of the finest women in all The Enchanted Forest."

"What do you want, Hook, we are talking about important things here and you just interrupted." Emma said rolling her eyes.

"Well, perhaps I can give my more than expert opinion on the matter." The man responded as he sent a sly smile to Regina.

"I doubt it." Emma sighed and rested her head against the man's shoulder, lifting an eyebrow as she stared off into the distance.

Regina would never understand what kind of relationship the two of them had; most times it seemed like Emma wanted nothing to do with him and he was always sweet talking every woman he encountered, but then everybody in The Enchanted Forest knew or at least commented that Emma was Hook's woman.

Regina wasn't sure about that and she had never dared to ask, but whatever it was between them it seemed to work just fine.

"Try me, love, you know I love to talk."

"We were talking about Robin and how he is furious at Regina."

The man snorted, his blue eyes finding Regina's. "Furious… with you? Well somehow I find that hard to believe, Princess."

"I know right, I told her the same thing, that man is head over heels. We all saw how he got when you got injured so…"

"He could be annoyed," Hooked interrupted, "He gets annoyed with me all the time but furious? Nay."

"Everyone gets annoyed with you, Hook, because you are damn irritable."

"I'm quite charming too."

Regina looked from the man to Emma, she really didn't want to talk about Robin with him but at the same time she was curious. After all Hook was close to her husband and maybe he knew things that she didn't.

She and Robin were just starting to click together, after all their marriage has been an arranged clause in a contract and even though it ended up working for them, there were still a lot they needed to learn about each other.

There were also a lot of unspoken issues they needed to fix.

"Yeah, well not so much you know. Anyway, can we focus in Robin and Regina here and not make it about you for once?"

Grinning, Hook winked at Emma before tilting his head towards Regina. "Alright, so you two love birds are facing some trouble. Can I ask why?"

When Regina was about to reply to that, Emma interrupted her.

"I'll tell you; that they are having problems it's partly your fault too because as part of The Council you are planning on sending her back to the castle. Killian Jones, tell me you didn't vote to send her out, did you?"

"Ah, to tell you the truth I'm not the one to talk about that, now that The Apprentice is gone I leave all the Diplomatic ways of the Council to Snow. She has a better head for those things than I do so I go for whatever she says."

Groaning, Emma rolled her eyes. "Of course you do… but what about Robin? I bet he is pulling a word for Regina to stay, isn't he?" Emma asked a bit too aggressively.

"I… can't say…?"

"You can't or you won't?"

Chuckling, Hook did a double take. "You are asking tons today woman and about things that don't concern me! Why don't you go and ask Robin instead?"

"Because you offered to talk to us and because we don't know where Robin is you silly." Emma replied as she turned to look at Hook. The man took the opportunity and kissed her nose.

"Why, he's at his house. I was with him and Ruby checking on some villages and when we came back they said they were going home. Of course, they were not going together because they don't live together. Robin lives with Princess here and Ruby with Mulan, and that makes me wonder, why are you not living with me?"

"He's back home?" Regina asked, her head automatically turning to take a look.

"For now, we are all leaving again soon. But did you all just listened to what I said?" Hook asked with a frown.

Emma replied something to the Outlaw but Regina didn't put much attention to it; she just excused herself and walked away and towards the house. According to Hook, her husband was back even if it was for a short while and she needed to make sure he really was there.

She had wanted to be there when he returned but there was nothing to be done about that. Now all she could do is hope to catch him before he would leave again.

The walk was short and in no time she was already there, opening the door and searching for him. She found him at his desk and as soon as she laid eyes on him her heart went back to normal… she hadn't even noticed how out of control it really was.

She stood at the doorframe, observing him rummage through some papers.

As if sensing her silent presence in the room his eyes moved to her. He was still wearing his somber expression and she found his eyes on her to be strange and distant.

It was as if they went back to the past, to when he saw her as the enemy and it some strange way she was afraid that their time together just vanished from his mind. That was the impression that she got from the hard look of his eyes.

"I thought you were already gone."

Regina looked away from him and down to the floor. Was that what he wanted, for her to be out of his life?"

She wasn't sure, the night before everything was perfect between them so it didn't make sense that now he wanted her out. She was trying to be reasonable by remembering that but it was hard, after all she had to admit that at times she could get a bit intense and say things she shouldn't say and maybe he had enough of it.

Only to think about that made her stomach hurt. That he didn't want her there was her biggest fear and she would do anything so he wouldn't think that way.

"Can we talk?"

His eyes settled on her and for half a second she thought he saw a confused glint in his clear blue eyes, but as soon as she though she saw it he lowered his face and used his hands to scratch the stubble covering his jaw.

"Sure." Getting up so that he could stand in front of the desk while facing her, he leaned back against the wooded furniture and crossed his arms to his chest.

He was back to looking at her, but now she saw nothing in his eyes but the clear indication that he was still mad.

She didn't want him to be mad so in a second she forgot everything Emma told her and started to talk. "I'm sorry about this morning. I just wanted to help; I thought that if I spoke to my mother and convinced her to go to the castle in peace that I would have more chances to stay here with you."

"Regina-" Robin blinked slowly while dropping his arms down to his sides. "I'm pretty sure I told you to leave everything to me."

Taking a few steps forward so that she could be closer to him, Regina nodded. "I know… but I just couldn't keep waiting here. I'm sorry if that made you mad and I'm sorry about what I said."

Now, she was definitely not good at apologies because she had never needed to make one, so she just hoped to be doing alright because she really meant it.

"Are you still mad at me?" She mumbled, her hands moving to grab the edge of his shirt.

"Of course I am… I mean you know that if you want anything you just need to tell me, you have no need to go to the Council to ask, let alone behind my back."

"I wanted to do things right."

"Bugger that, I'm your husband and whatever you need or want I'll take care of it."

Despite herself, Regina smiled. Maybe Emma was right about men wanting to be in control. She didn't mind, not as long as that man was Robin. "I love you." She said as she searched into his eyes.

His face softened as he fixed his eyes on hers. "And yet you want to leave."

"I don't want to leave, you know that. I just… say things I don't really mean when I get mad." She responded as she took the liberty of resting the palm of her hands to his chest and then down his stomach.

"Then you need to work on that as I don't like it, especially when you push in my face things that have certain truth to it."

Swallowing on dry, she agreed. "I'm sorry."

"I don't need you to apologize, I need you to come clear with me, you can't be all loving when we are alright and spiteful when we are not and then expect me to know you when you don't mean it. I'm very aware of what we did, what I did. We took you away from your home to bring you here, we captured your mother, forced you to marry me so yes, if you tell me you want to go back to the castle I can't help but to believe it."

Clearing her throat, Regina lifted her face to look at him in the eye. He was still too serious, but his eyes were not as hard as they have been earlier on.

In that moment, what she has been taught back at the castle when she was being groomed to marry a king came to her and she knew she had to put those lessons to work; agree with everything her lord husband said or did and look pretty while doing so…

But at the same time, those lessons had never felt more wrong than in that moment, especially when he had asked her to come clear with him.

Taking in a deep breath and keeping her eyes locked with his, she decided to just tell him what was on her mind. "You are right. I more often than not act defensively… I don't think before I speak and all that but Robin, how do you expect me not to be frustrated with this situation? You say that I was forced to marry you, well… you just married me because The Council told you to. And then you make it more than clear that your number one priority is your duty to The Enchanted Forest so yes, I get frustrated when you tell me that you'll send me away if that's what your Council says."

"If I would only do as The Council says you wouldn't even be here right now; I've been doing all I can to first slow the process and the stop it altogether because I bloody want you here. But you don't even see it."

"I don't see it because you are not letting me see it, you don't talk to me, you are not even here half the time so once again, how do you expect me to react when you act like you don't even care?"

"I expect you to act like you believe what I say."

Scoffing because they were going nowhere with the conversation, she closed her eyes and rested her forehead to his chest. He did nothing in return and that was exactly what she meant about him not letting her see it. He said he wanted her there, but he wasn't acting like he did.

Yes, he told her, but at the first sign of things going wrong it didn't seem like he would hesitate on sending her off.

Yes, he was right and she did act like she wanted to leave as soon as things didn't go her way as well so she couldn't put the entire blame on him.

"We are so, so messed up." At her words he put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. It was comforting and she breathed deep into his scent.

They were both too stubborn and unless they started to cede a little, they were going nowhere. They needed a restart.

"I don't know what else you want me to do. I've been standing here in front of you telling you I want you with me and you still doubt it."

"Robin…"

He made her back a bit from him so that she could see him in the eye. "You are right, The Council is important to me, but so are you. What do I have to do for you to understand that?"

Thinking about the restart, she blinked slowly.

"Nothing, I just need you to have a little patience with me, I know I get a bit intense but it doesn't help if you walk out on me and leave me wondering all day long about what is going to happen."

"Fair, in return I need you to have a little faith in me. Whether you see it or not I am doing everything within my reach to make you stay."

She nodded. "Alright. But if at the end you can't do anything and they send me away, I need you to be clear in the fact that I will be taking you with me. Screw the Council."

Robin scoffed. "I don't think anyone back in The Kingdom would like that, if I was ever to set foot there again my head would end on a pike. Especially with The Imp still out there."

"Then we need to stay here, because I like your head right where it is." Regina responded before kissing him briefly.

"Well I happen to like it where it is as well and I'll probably get to keep it there. I've been spending a lot of time palavering with Snow about this and yes, we still need to make a few arrangements and figure some things out but I'm almost positive that you'll stay. Well, as long as you want to that is."

Regina parted her lips and gasped. "Are you serious?"

"I told you to leave everything to me." As his words floated out of his lips, Regina moved her arms to his neck and hugged him closer.

"Don't celebrate just yet, I don't want to jinx it. Things outside are not exactly going smoothly. The Imp is somewhere near, the West is stirring and The Kingdom seems to be divided."

Not exactly happy to hear that, she sighed. "Will this ever end?"

"It will, one way or another." He whispered right before he pulled away from the hug so that his lips could take hers in a kiss.

When their lips finally met she kissed him back, granting him entrance so he could kiss her like she wanted to be kissed.

The moment demanded it; she wanted a kiss that would make her go weak on the knees, a kiss that would steal her every breath away and that was exactly what she got. He kissed her deep and long, his body pushing against hers until she was trapped between him and the desk.

But then he pulled away, leaving her lips missing him madly. She could protest but his eyes told her not to, he was going to continue with the kiss alright, his blue orbs held that promise.

Without taking his eyes away from hers he ran his finger up her spine, his lips inches away from kissing her once again.

"You make me mad like no other, you sometimes act spoiled and without thinking about consequences, but I love you Princess."

Regina closed her eyes, feeling his lips take possession of hers once again…

She felt like all was fine now, it was fine not only because she may be staying but because he loved her. No matter what happened now, destiny had forged their ways together, going from a savage chasing a Princess through a forest to two entities in love. It was their task now to make the better of it.

So aye, her mind knew all was going to be perfect just as she had the love of her favorite savage…

~*FIN?*


End file.
